The number of cybersecurity breaches keeps increasing by the year, and the reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, the attackers are getting smarter by incorporating more cutting-edge methods to do their bidding. Secondly, the cybersecurity talent market is still facing acute shortages when it comes to truly skilled professionals capable of thwarting all the myriad tactics hackers have at their disposal.
71% of organizations report that the cybersecurity skills shortage has impacted them. 56% of organizations struggle to recruit, and 54% struggle to retain cybersecurity talent. In fact, 48% of companies say it takes more than half a year to find qualified cyber security candidates for open positions.
Meanwhile, the average cost of a data breach keeps going up by the year, hitting $4.45 million in 2023. For SMEs dealing in tight margins, a single breach could spell doom for the organization.
For organizations facing such precarious circumstances, the need of the hour is a solution that not only fortifies their security, but also doesn’t require the heavy investment (both in time and money) to build an effective in-house team. Therefore, managed security services are increasingly becoming the flavour of the season, where organizations outsource their security requirements to trusted experts specializing in the field. One of the more popular managed security services going around is Security Operations Center as a Service (SOCaaS).
What is SOC-as-a-Service?
To answer this, let’s first understand what a SOC is. A Security Operations Center is essentially the cyber intelligence hub of the company, using automation to gather data in real time across all the organization’s networks, servers, endpoints and other digital assets. Once all this data is gathered, incidents are prioritized according to severity and responded to in a swift, effective manner.
SOC-as-a-service is all that, except a third-party cloud-based security operations center manages it on a subscription model. SOCaaS provides all the security functions you would expect from a traditional, in-house SOC, including but not limited to network monitoring, log management, threat detection & intelligence, incident investigation & response and compliance adherence. The vendor you choose assumes responsibility for the people, processes and tech required to provide 24×7 outsourced security monitoring.
How SOCaaS fits in Security Stack?
Fully managed SOC services can be delivered as a standalone service but is often one core component in a broader security package. Therefore, to know what exactly it provides, it is important to differentiate SOC-as-a-service from other popular security tools:
| Comparison | Point of Comparison |
| SOCaaS vs. Managed SIEM | SIEM doesn’t monitor in real time like SOCaaS does. It analyzes log data recorded by other software to determine if an event occurred or not. |
| SOCaaS vs. MDR Services (Managed Detection & Response) | There are several overlaps in that they are both services leveraging tech & human expertise for threat detection and response, but SOCaaS solutions usually provide a greater range of services & offer stronger, more comprehensive protection as compared to an MDR tool. |
Benefits of SOC-as-a-service
Here are the advantages of SOCaaS vs. Traditional SOC:
- The combination of advanced automation with skilled human oversight usually leads to faster detection & remediation when compared to traditional SOC.
- It gives your organization access to hyper-specialized security experts without having to hire or retain them full time.
- A common cause of attacks is through unpatched or outdated software, something a short staffed IT team may tend to neglect. By reducing the burden on them and having someone fully dedicated to these activities, there is a lower risk of breach.
- A reliable vendor often has access to the best-in-breed security solutions.
- Automation being a core component of SOCaaS allows it to generate high-fidelity leads through continuous monitoring.
- SOCaaS is far more flexible and adaptable than traditional SOC, showing greater ability to scale seamlessly according to a particular customer’s needs.
- You get faster response times by improving metrics like the mean time to investigate (MTTI) and the mean time to remediate (MTTR).
- And finally, the cost of SOCaaS solutions is often less than on-premises SOCs, because costs like staffing, equipment, licenses and software are shared by multiple customers under a pay-as-you-use pricing model.
SOCaaS Roles and Responsibilities
The best SOC-as-a-services solutions have a clear hierarchy and extremely well-defined roles:
| Role | Responsibility |
| SOC Manager | The leader of the SOC, overseeing all aspects of it. |
| Security Analyst – Tier 1 (Triage) | Categorizes and prioritizes alerts, then escalates them to Tier 2 analysts. |
| Security Analyst – Tier 2 (Incident Responder) | Investigates & remediates escalated incidents by identifying affected systems and leveraging threat intelligence. |
| Security Analyst – Tier 3 (Threat Hunter) | Proactively tests & assesses network security to identify vulnerable areas and detect advanced threats. |
| Security Architect | Designs security system & its processes, integrating various tech & human components. |
| Compliance Auditor | Oversees the program’s adherence to all the internal & external rules & regulations. |
| Forensic Investigator | Tasked with finding the root cause in the case of a data breach. |
| SOC Coordinator | Official liaison between the vendor and you. |
When to use SOC-as-a-service
Of course, even though we have customizable SOCaaS offerings as part of our offerings, we’re the first ones to admit that SOCaaS might not be suitable for all organizations. Here’s when to go for it (and when not to):
| When SOCaaS may be best for you | When it may not be best |
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Despite the many benefits of SOC-as-a-service to relevant parties, there are still some challenges when it comes to integrating it, such as:
- The onboarding process may be time-consuming, resulting in potential risk exposure during this vulnerable phase.
- It involves sharing your organizational data with a third party, something that always comes with risks.
- You have less control of data since it’s stored outside your organization.
However, iValue, being one of the top SOC-as-a-service providers in the region, can transcend all these challenges through our dedicated team and best-in-class security solutions. If you’re looking for someone to truly fortify your SOC operations, reach out to us right away!
