Security Operations Center(SOC)
Security operations are handled and managed with the help of the Security Operation Center (SOC). SOC is a centralized unit that continuously monitors, manages, and analyzes ongoing activities on the organization’s information systems such as networks, servers, endpoints, databases, applications, and websites.
Its end –goal is to maintain the continuity of an organization by determining, preventing, detecting, and responding to intrusion events before they affect the business.
It is also sometimes referred to as a security defense center (SOC), security analytics center (SAC), Network Security operations center (NSOC), Cyber Security Training center, Threat Defense Center, and Security Intelligence and Operations Center (SIOC).
It provides a single point of view through which the organization’s security and assets are monitored, assessed, and defended. It gathers data from logs, IDS/IPS, firewalls, endpoint devices, and network flows and facilitates incident detection, investigation, and response. It evaluates the organization’s assets or information systems and facilitates situational awareness and real-time alerting if any intrusion or attack is detected.
Why do we Need SOC Analysts:-
Organizations use various security measures such as intrusion detection/prevention systems, firewalls, email filtering, URL filtering, and antivirus to protect the organization’s network from threats. However, in recent times, these security measures proved insufficient to provide enough security as hackers are inventing new trends and techniques to penetrate the network by evading such security measures. So, the need for such security measures that can keep the security perimeter always updated regarding new and developing threats and vulnerabilities. This is possible through Certified SOC Analysts.
SOC is responsible for performing the following types of activities:
- Proactively identifying suspicious activities in the network and system.
- Performing vulnerability management to identify which activists are vulnerable to the network.
- Get aware of hardware and software assets working in the network.
- Performing log management that facilitates forensics at the time of security breaches.
- Evaluating policies and procedures required for business operations.
- Checking whether the organization has appropriate internal controls and processes to provide proper services to the clients.
- Strengthening the environment of the organization.
- Eradication of internal blinders.
SOC Analysts Capabilities
The basic capabilities of a SOC include preventing, detecting, responding, and reporting security incidents.
- Preventing Capability – It refers to stopping an attack from getting successful. To prevent the attack, SOC uses fine-tuning and maintenance tools. It also directs the Incident Response Team to perform security monitoring. It also uses the detection rules effectively and considers the Indicators of Compromise (IoC) detected by the incident response team. Thus, SOC detects risks and identifies their harmful impact on the organization to design a well-defined vigilance plan.
- Detection Capability – It refers to monitoring a system or network to identify suspicious activities and security breaches. To fulfill this purpose, SOC collects, analyzes, and correlates security events, as well as triggers alerts when suspicious activity arises. It also informs the client regarding issues through notification and communication.
- Responding Capability – It refers to analyzing and handling documented alerts and security incidents instantly with security teams.
- Reporting Capability – SOC offers various reports, which keep you updated about the various assets and their security events, level of compliance, and alarms generated. SOC-SIEM Training uses a security dashboard to display service indicators, technical indicators, and trend indicators.
SOC Workflow
Typical SOC workflow includes the following activities:
- Collection:- Security logs are collected and forwarded to the SIEM.
- Ingestion:- SIEM ingests log data, threat information, indicators of compromise, and asset inventory for machine-based correlation and anomalous activity detection.
- Validation:- SOC analysts identify the indicators of compromise, triage alerts, and validate incidents.
- Reporting:- Validated incidents are submitted to the incident response teams through a ticketing system.
- Response:- SOC team reviews incidents and performs incident response activities.
- Documentation:- At last, incidents are documented for business audit purposes.
Tasks of a SOC Analyst
- Monitor and analyze network traffic for malicious activity.
- Compose security alert notifications.
- Add, remove, or update IP addresses and domains.
- Monitor insider threats and performs APT detection.
- Respond to emails and phone calls to address notifications of cyber incidents.
- Coordinate with the intelligence team and incident response team to ensure proper communication of cyber threats that could impact network security.
- Monitor open-source resources for malicious postings.
- Understand/ differentiate intrusion attempts and false alarms.
- Analyze vulnerabilities of undisclosed hardware and software.
- Investigate, document, and report on security issues.
A SOC analyst tends to exploits like the crypto wall, brute force attack, etc. daily. Being a part of the Security Operations Center (SOC) means that every member’s role is challenging and rewarding. The team addresses threats with a focus on incident handling and response. An analyst is expected to work quickly and efficiently on a large number of tickets, treating each one of them with the utmost care and responsibility. A SOC analyst knows perfectly the process of analyzing the attack and identifying the cause for it. By receiving accurate and informative feedback from Certified SOC Analysts, an organization can resolve many threats before they realize them into breaches.
Types of SOC models
There are three types of SOC Models:
- In-House/Internal SOC Model – An in-house/internal SOC model is recommended for those organizations that have security issues related to outsourcing.
- Outsourced SOC Model – It provides a robust security solution to the organization.
- Hybrid SOC Model – it is a combination of both in-house and outsourced SOC model
Difference Between NOC vs SOC
| NOC monitors IT infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted network service | SOC monitors IT infrastructure to ensure the security of the network, websites, applications, databases, servers, etc. |
| NOC is responsible for network fault tolerance, switch router configuration, sniffing and troubleshooting, system, and traffic monitoring, etc. | SOC is responsible for network behavior anomaly detection, intrusion detection, log management, network forensics, vulnerability detection and awareness, management and change policy, etc. |
| A NOC analyst should be well-skilled in network, application, and systems engineering | Certified SOC analysts should have security-engineering skills |
| The NOC focuses on system events that occurred naturally | The SOC focuses on “intelligent adversaries” |