What is a SOC?

What is a Security Operations Center (SOC)?

The function of the security operations center (SOC) is to monitor, prevent, detect, investigate, and
respond to cyber threats around the clock. SOC teams are charged with monitoring and protecting
the organization’s assets including intellectual property, personnel data, business systems, and brand
integrity. The SOC team implements the organization’s overall cybersecurity strategy and acts as
the central point of collaboration in coordinated efforts to monitor, assess, and defend against
cyberattacks.
Security Operation Center (SOC) is a centralized function within an organization
employing people, processes, and technology to continuously monitor and improve an
organization's security posture while preventing, detecting, analyzing, and responding to
cybersecurity incidents.

A security operations center, or SOC, is a team of IT security professionals that protects

the organization by monitoring, detecting, analyzing, and investigating cyber threats.
Networks, servers, computers, endpoint devices, operating systems, applications and
databases are continuously examined for signs of a cyber security incident. The SOC
team analyzes feeds, establishes rules, identifies exceptions, enhances responses and
keeps a look out for new vulnerabilities.
Given that technology systems in the modern organization run 24/7, SOCs usually function
around the clock in shifts to ensure a rapid response to any emerging threats. SOC teams
may collaborate with other departments and employees or work expert third party IT
security providers.
Before setting up an SOC, organizations must develop an overarching cyber security
strategy that aligns with their business objectives and challenges. Many large
organizations have an in-house SOC but others opt to outsource the SOC to a third-party
managed security services providers.
Security intelligence and operations consulting services include an arsenal of security
solutions to stay ahead of security threats.

Security operations center (SOC)

A security operations center (SOC) is a command center facility for a team of information
technology (IT) professionals with expertise in information security (infosec) who monitors,
analyzes and protects an organization from cyber attacks.
In the SOC, internet traffic, networks, desktops, servers, endpoint devices, databases,
applications and other systems are continuously examined for signs of a security incident.
SOC staff may work with other teams or departments but are typically self-contained with
employees that have high-level IT and cybersecurity skills or outsourced to third-party
service providers. Most SOCs function around the clock, with employees working in shifts
to constantly log activity and mitigate threats.
Prior to establishing a SOC, an organization must define its cybersecurity strategy to align
with current business goals and problems. Department executives reference a risk
assessment that focuses on what it will take to maintain the company's mission and
subsequently provide input on objectives to be met and infrastructure and tooling required
to meet those objectives, as well as required staff skills.
SOCs are an integral part of minimizing the costs of a potential data breach as they not
only help organizations respond to intrusions quickly, but also constantly improve detection
and prevention processes.

SOC Benefits

There are a lot of benefits to businesses when their dedicated cybersecurity team is under
one roof and working toward a common goal, including:

•Faster Responses: A SOC uses the latest technology and real-time monitoring to
provide businesses with faster response times, the ability to get real-time updates on
your entire infrastructure, and a more holistic understanding of the status of security
systems even over multiple locations and devices. This makes it easier for a security
team to identify, react to, and resolve issues as they arise and before they can cause
issues for a business.
 •Stronger Security: The ability to track and monitor an organization ’s digital
infrastructure inside a centralized security hub drastically improves the quality of the
service. With a SOC, a cybersecurity team can more easily perform their duties,
including 24/7 monitoring of a business’ digital infrastructure to ensure its safety from
cyberthreats.
•Collaboration: Cybersecurity requires effective communication to keep everyone on
the same page. In a SOC, teams can freely communicate, share data, and discuss
strategies together. A SOC gives businesses more unrestricted access to experts in
all fields of cybersecurity from engineering to compliance services to data reporting, all
working together.
•Consistent Protection: Cyberattacks don’t always occur within working hours. With
a SOC watching your back, your business gets 24/7 network monitoring to ensure
attacks are always identified quickly.
•Easier Compliance: A cybersecurity operations center provides many of the security
controls that major regulations call for to make meeting and maintaining compliance
standards simpler.
•Stronger Reputation: Having access to an expert-filled SOC is a message to your
investors, customers, audience, and employees that you ’re taking security seriously.
It’s something you can tell present and prospective customers to build trust by
providing assurance as to the security of their data.
•Complete Expertise: In a SOC like DOT Security’s, all the cybersecurity experts are
gathered in one place. It’s where strategies are discussed, cyberattacks are identified,
and information is shared to ensure that your business always has the most up-to-date
protection plan possible.

What’s Inside a Security Operations Center?

Inside a SOC, a cybersecurity team performs the many functions and services necessary
to ensure the protection of a business’ digital infrastructure.

Here’s a look at what happens inside a SOC, including the services performed and the
people performing them every day.
Managed SOC Services
- Network Monitoring: To protect businesses from the constant threat of cybercriminals,
cybersecurity teams in a SOC are always monitoring network activity for signs of an attack,
ready to report and execute a response plan if necessary. Network monitoring helps
businesses mitigate the risks of an attack by improving threat detection, allowing for more
time to properly react with appropriate measures.
- Vulnerability Management: Experts in a SOC keep their fingers on the pulse on the
threats to your business' critical software to ensure its defenses are always up to date and
you’re always aware of new threats and potential vulnerabilities.
- Incident Response: When a cybersecurity incident is identified, the SOC will start the
incident response procedure and will quickly notify you as soon as possible.
- Reporting: A dedicated vCISO working from the SOC works to ensure companies are
always aware of their security status, the effectiveness of their security plan, potential
threats, and necessary updates. They’ll share reports with the newest data and trends
available to make sure the established strategy is still the most effective solution.
- Compliance as a Service: Compliance is a constant process. Businesses need to
ensure they are consistently maintaining compliance with critical regulations like CMMC
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and HIPAA Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) . Compliance services give businesses the
teams they need to become compliant and maintain it over time and through changing
circumstances.
Related: Identity and Access Management Standards for Compliance
Who Works in a SOC?
- VCISOs: Virtual Chief Information Security Officers (vCISOs) are the point-person for
your business’ cybersecurity and act as a point of contact who knows the ins and outs of
your business, your cybersecurity strategy, and cybersecurity trends.
- Compliance Managers: Compliance Managers are experts in regulations like HIPAA
and CMMC and help you maintain compliance.
- Cybersecurity Engineers: Cybersecurity Engineers perform the day-to-day
maintenance on your system, conduct risk audits, and help make recommendations for
updates to a cybersecurity strategy.
- Cybersecurity Analyst: Analysts take gathered data and draw insights and analyses
from it to make suggestions and updates to cybersecurity strategies and systems.

5 Security Operation Center Models Compared

We’re going to cover each of the five security operations center models currently in use in
full detail, and explain the use cases for each one. These guidelines should inform your
decision to choose a vendor whose offering matches the needs of your organization.
SOC-As-A-Service
SOC-as-a-Service (SOCaaS) solutions are decentralized, cloud-based portals that
connect your company infrastructure to an off-site monitoring and event response team.
The virtual, cloud-connected approach has become increasingly common as businesses
pour support into remote operations and staff.
Advantages: Maintaining SOCaaS is much cheaper than buying, deploying, and
maintaining an on-site security operations center. There is no need to buy your own
hardware or train your own staff, which means organizations can secure their
infrastructure extremely quickly.
SOCaaS vendors can leverage state-of-the-start technology and expertise to deliver
security results on demand. When augmented with automation, best-in-class security
incident and event management (SIEM) technology, and in-depth analytics, the virtual
approach can deliver excellent results at a fraction of what it would cost to build an on-site
SOC.
Drawbacks: Not all SOCaaS vendors offer the same quality of service. Increasing
competition has led some vendors to pursue cost-cutting strategies that put their
customers at risk.
For example, it’s not uncommon for SOCaaS vendors to outsource infrastructure to
offshore companies in Eastern Europe and South Asia. They can charge much less for
their services, but geographical distance and time zone differences put a strain on their
ability to deliver high-quality incident response services at a moment ’s notice.
Who It’s For: The SOCaaS model is ideal for a few different types of organizations.
Because it’s the fastest, cheapest way to improve enterprise security, many companies
subscribe to SOCaaS services immediately after suffering a cyberattack. For them, the
SOCaaS model may be a temporary fix while they build on-site infrastructure.
Small and mid-sized businesses also frequently sign up for SOCaaS services. These
companies cannot afford to build on-site security infrastructure, so they look for the best
and most reliable security vendor they can find. Even large enterprises outsource their
cybersecurity infrastructure to reputable industry-leading SOCaaS solutions like
ClearNetwork.
If your organization plans on deploying a SOCaaS, make sure to find a reputable vendor
with local expertise available. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the technology,
and ensure you have a good degree of visibility into your virtual security infrastructure.
Multifunction SOC / NOC
This approach puts security operations and network operations in the same facility. Using
this approach, a single team of security and network professionals can share resources
and infrastructure. This is an on-site operations center that performs IT operations,
compliance, and risk management alongside security operations.
Read about the difference between a SOC and a NOC
Advantages: The multifunction model makes timely, on-site security processes available
to enterprises at reduced cost. Combining network and security personnel minimizes the
expense of both departments.

These advantages are even greater for small organizations that may already have
overlapping security responsibilities across multiple teams.
Drawbacks: The main disadvantage to a multifunctional approach is that security will
often take a backseat to networking. Hiring security talent in a multifunctional environment
can be challenging, and distributing shared resources can lead to conflicts.
When networking and security professionals in a multifunction environment disagree about
how best to utilize network resources, the security side rarely wins. Networking statistics
tend to represent a more compelling value than cybersecurity, because prevention is
harder to measure than performance.
Who It’s For: Small enterprises with relatively low risk exposures can use the
multifunction SOC approach to consolidate security and networking temporarily. It ’s worth
stressing that the multifunction approach breaks down as the company grows, so
enterprise leaders need to have transformation strategy in place.
Co-Managed SOC
The co-managed SOC model uses on-site monitoring solutions in addition to external staff.
This approach may also be called a hybrid approach, since it contains both on-site and off-
site elements. These elements may vary widely between different organizations, making
co-management a versatile option.
Advantages: The co-managed SOC approach offers enterprises the flexibility to choose
which technologies they deploy on-site, and which they do not. This opens up
opportunities to delegate low-risk security processes to low-cost SOCaaS providers, while
keeping high-impact security tasks in-house.
This also allows the enterprise to prioritize specific security skills over others. If the
organization has outsized risks in a particular area, it may use the co-managed approach
to dedicate more resources to that area than with any other approach.
Drawbacks: Many co-managed SOCs are handled by managed security service providers
whose core expertise is neither IT nor cybersecurity operations. As with SOCaaS, it ’s
incredibly important for enterprises to qualify their partnerships carefully before signing any
contracts.
Additionally, there is a risk that this model becomes more expensive over time. You still
have to invest in additional hardware, and support the additional overhead of partial on-site
infrastructure. If the cybersecurity risk you seek to mitigate isn’t likely to be a problem five
years down the line, it may not make sense to dedicate resources to this approach today.
Who It’s For: Enterprises with budget constraints and highly specific cybersecurity
vulnerabilities benefit from the co-managed approach best. Finding the right balance
between the security elements you retain control over and the ones you delegate will be a
challenge. Be prepared for that balance to change over time, and make sure your co-
management partner is willing to accommodate that fact.
Dedicated SOC
The dedicated SOC is a centralized solution that has its own infrastructure, its own team,
and a set of processes designed exclusively for cybersecurity. The size, capabilities, and
cost of a dedicated SOC can vary widely, but most require at least five in-house
cybersecurity experts on the payroll.
Advantages: The dedicated SOC offers complete ownership over all security technology
and processes in the enterprise. It gives your team the greatest degree of visibility over
your environment, and enables the fastest possible threat response and mitigation.
To put it simply, there is no better solution for day-to-day security excellence than having
your own dedicated security operations center.
Drawbacks: Setting up and staffing your own dedicated security operations center is
enormously expensive. The technology and infrastructure will require an extraordinary up-
front investment, and operating costs will grow year after year. Hiring and retaining talent
will get harder over time, increasing overhead at a constant rate.
Nevertheless, for organizations that are constantly under attack from persistent hackers,
state-sponsored spies, and cybercriminal organizations, there is no better option.
Who It’s For: Large enterprises, public institutions, and government agencies have the
resources and the threat profile to justify building and maintaining a dedicated SOC.
Cybersecurity vendors must also invest heavily in their own in-house capabilities, for
obvious reasons.

Command SOC
The command SOC model describes a network of SOCs distributed over multiple
territories. In many cases, this is a linked, global security operation center that consists of
multiple dedicated SOCs working in tandem with one another. The command SOC may
have specific sites dedicated to certain tasks, like forensics, cybersecurity research, or
threat intelligence.
Advantages: The command SOC structure offers the most comprehensive security
structure possible. It has the resources and the brainpower to confront the most dangerous
challenges in the global cybersecurity landscape.
Drawbacks: The sheer level of complexity that the global command SOC approach
requires puts it out of reach for all but the largest and most powerful organizations on the
planet. Paradoxically, this complexity often makes them vulnerable to the simplest attacks
– like when a British teenager hacked into the CIA, the FBI, and the Department of
Homeland Security in 2018.Who It’s For: Global 2000 companies and government
defense, intelligence, and counterterrorism agencies.

Which SOC Model Is Right For You?

Your choice of SOC model will deeply impact security operations success over time. You
have to choose a solution that is equipped to handle both today ’s cybersecurity threats
and tomorrow’s. The size of your enterprise, its risk profile, and the complexity of your
technological infrastructure are all factors to take into account.In order to be effective, the
security operations center needs to have visibility over every aspect of your business.
There is a balance point between narrow, hyper-specialized security expertise and the
development of a holistic security culture among leadership, staff, and users. Establishing
this level of security proficiency requires expert guidance, talent, and resources.

How ClearNetwork Can Help You Secure Your BusinessClearNetwork uses AT&T ’s
AlienVault technology to deploy industry-leading SOC-as-a-service solutions that reduce
the complexity and overhead cost of cybersecurity excellence. Our fully managed security
solution is versatile and scalable, making it ideal for enterprises of any size. Consult a
cybersecurity operations expert to discover how ClearNetwork ’s comprehensive security
service model can augment and secure your business operations.