By Pedro Tavares, Editor-in-Chief seguranca-informatica.pt
The creation of a Security Operations Center (SOC) has increasingly stood out as something necessary to help companies defend themselves against damage caused by cyber-attacks. SOC is considered the kernel of an organization’s security operations, the purpose of which is to provide detection and response services to security incidents.
The creation of a SOC from-scratch involves a large investment in human and technological resources, especially when it is intended to maintain operations on a full-scale 24×7. Implementing a SOC solution goes far beyond buying technologies and putting it into operation. First, there is a great shortage of qualified professionals which makes it a real challenge to bring them into your organization. From a technological perspective, the right equipment and the right platforms can help you automate or at least optimize your incident detection and response capabilities. How to decide the best option: Implement or Hire a SOC? The answer is not simple.
Create your own SOC or Hire a third-party SOC
One of the advantages of creating your own SOC is having a team exclusively dedicated to achieving your goals. This team will have a deep understanding of the business. They will better understand the general context around events and have more knowledge about how you operate in contrast to a third party SOC.
On the other hand, buying a SOC solution can be cost-effective. You may not need to buy software or equipment directly, and you won’t have to hire or manage the team full time. Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) will take care of everything for you – from the integrity of the infrastructure to triage and incident response. Since obtaining technology and personnel costs will not a preoccupation for you, the total investment value may end up being much lower.
How to choose the best option
The responses are not linear, but some questions can help you to make the final judgment.
- How do security and SOC align with the business strategy and mission?
- Do you intend to operate on a 24 × 7 scale?
- Are the investments involved justified?
- Does your business need greater control by demanding its own SOC?
- What would happen to your business if it suffered a security breach?
When considering the last question, if the impact is minimal, it is suggested to hire a SOC solution. If the impact is quite significant, then I advise you to develop your own SOC solution.
Developing a SOC can be very costly if not done in the right way. Some mistakes can even compromise your business goals and objectives. The lack of experienced professionals in the market definitely makes managing your own SOC a little more challenging – the demand is huge and your partners and competitors looking for the same resources as you.
In sum, the challenge of implementing a SOC in your organization is enormous, but the benefits are notorious.
Continuous Protection: Having a command center that monitors your network and/or facility 24/7.
Timely Response: The gap between critical event and response time narrows.
Help Customers/Stakeholders Feel Secure: A security command center can serve external and internal marketing purposes as well.
Simplify Investigations: Capabilities of a security operations center on hand can expedite the process of analysis.
And last but not least, a SOC solution can provide insight on identifying threats before they become critical events.
About the Author
Pedro Tavares is a cybersecurity professional and a founding member of CSIRT.UBI and Editor-in-Chief of seguranca-informatica.pt.
In recent years he has invested in the field of information security, exploring and analyzing a wide range of topics, malware, ethical hacking (OSCP-certified), cybersecurity, IoT, and security in computer networks. He is also a Freelance Writer.
Segurança Informática blog: www.seguranca-informatica.pt
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sirpedrotavares
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sirpedrotavares
Contact me: [email protected]
