Managed SOC: An Expert Guide

Managed SOC: An Expert Guide

70% of medium-sized businesses reported breaches or attempted cyber attacks within the last 12 months. In the UK, the total annual cost of cybercrimes for businesses is £21 million. You can’t hide from those numbers, so how can a best-of-breed Managed SOC play a part in reducing them?

Index

1. What is a SOC?

2. What is a Managed SOC?

3. Why you need a Managed SOC?

4. Benefits of a Managed SOC

5. Capabilities of a Managed SOC

6. Implementing a Managed SOC

7. Managed SOC VS. MSSP

8. Choosing the right Managed SOC Partner

What is a SOC?

A Security Operations Center (SOC) is a central unit that performs essential security functions that’ll enhance a businesses overall state of readiness to respond to cyberattacks – it can either be outsourced (managed SOC), or in-house. In-house SOC is typically less cost-effective and more time consuming.

Whether it’s an in-house SOC or managed, the team will include an SOC manager, security engineer, advanced security analyst, security investigator, and incident responder – all of whom will report to an organisation’s CISO. 

With the latest statistics stating there are now over 560,000 recorded attempted and successful cyber attacks, a team of security analysts and cyber security managers is not a need; it’s a must. 

Most companies will outsource to a SOC equipped with advanced threat intelligence tools to instantaneously reduce the threat and impact of cyber attacks. It’s the best value for money for organisations without the resources or knowledge to manage it in-house. It’s a 24/7, fully comprehensive, centralised security operation that provides round the clock security support.  

What is a Managed SOC?

A Managed SOC performs key security functions to enhance an organisation’s cyber security posture through detection, response and continuous functions. This is achieved through monitoring the security of an organisations supported environment for cyber threats, conducting triage, investigating and responding to security incidents and providing reports, utilising standard systems and processes.

The continuous active search for cyber threats improves detection abilities, looking beyond the norms to reveal hidden threats – there’s no waiting around for the threat to come to you.

A security team will use different tools and procedures for identifying and responding to cyber threats. With continuous monitoring, preventing cyberattacks becomes almost seamless while incidents reduce in severity and companies keep compliance with regulations supported. And with real-time feedback, organisations can better understand their security posture and have actionable insights that enable the creation of effective cyber security defence mechanisms. 

Why You Need a Managed SOC

Many organisations find it tricky to establish and maintain their internal SOCs due to costs or resource needs, as we’ve said already. A managed SOC removes the need to build and maintain SOC in-house resulting in reduced operational and infrastructure expenses.

However, managed SOC services offer an alternative where external cyber security experts monitor your IT systems 24/7 on behalf of a business. These are trained experts in cyber security and management and the end-to-end integration with the managed SOC service and the organisation’s existing IT functions creates a fully integrated service across the combined IT organisation.

Another statistic for you: the average cost per breach in the UK is £3.4 million, with 50% of businesses experiencing a cyber attack in 2023. It’s literally a 50/50 chance of attack.

And if one in two businesses in the UK will be a victim of a cyber attack, perhaps the question we should be asking is, why don’t you need managed SOC?

What are the Benefits?

We’ve dotted in mentions of the benefits throughout this article, but here’s a summary:

• 24/7 Monitoring: Managed SOC services offer continuous network monitoring that means quick identification of suspicious activities and a generally healthy cyber security ecosystem.
• Cost-effective: Establishing an internal SOC can be extremely costly. Managed SOC services are available for a fraction of the cost, allowing organisations to use professional security monitoring without incurring significant capital outlays. Yes, some are expensive, but even those are worth it. Note: avoid using companies’ open-source and cheaper implementation technologies. They’re not always secure.You should look for companies using enterprise-level tools.
• Access to Expertise: Managed SOC providers employ highly skilled security experts who keep updated about the newest threats and technologies.
• Scalability: With business growth comes changing security requirements. Consequently, managed SOCs have flexible and scalable security solutions capable of accommodating your growing business needs.
• Compliance Support: Some industries have ultra-strict regulations on data protection. Managed SOC services will help you comply with legislation, mitigating legal penalties and damage to your reputation.

What are the Capabilities?

We’ve also discussed the capabilities of a Managed SOC Service, but let’s sum up the individual benefits:

• Threat intelligence: acquiring and analysing information about possible menaces to anticipate and minimise dangers.
• Vulnerability Management: Detecting and fixing security flaws in your systems.
• Incident response: rapid response to security breaches to reduce, if not eradicate, the harm caused and ensure a speedy recovery.
• Security Information and Event Management: Managed SOCs monitor network traffic on all computers, servers, applications, services, etc, in real-time. Absolutely all systems in your ecosystem will be covered.
• Security Analytics: Advanced analytics spot trends and any irregularities that may be pointers to a security threat.

Implementing a Managed SOC

First, the security experts we mentioned working within the Managed SOC centre assess your security systems to identify weaknesses and define your business scope to learn about the capabilities to provide monitoring, detection, triage, containment, and escalation.​ They’ll then perform a threat landscape review to learn about how your business manages threats and the general cyber threats you’re likely to face, including a NIST controls coverage review to check current security controls. With that, they’ll then focus on high-level enterprise threat modelling of major threats for enhanced mitigation. 

Once end-to-end integration and complete understanding of your cyber security posture is complete, automated tools and human analysis will help continuously monitor your digital environment for possible threats and act where necessary. Once the threat is identified, the SOC team will investigate and respond with strategies to help mitigate any risks involved so that no actual damage occurs.

Most Managed SOC partners will send regular reports about your cyber health.

Managed SOC vs. MSSP

Although managed SOCs and managed security service providers (MSSPs) offer security services and benefits, there are some differences:

• Service Scope: Managed SOCs are umbrella services, including everything mentioned above. MSSPs only manage network activity, resources, and connections. They also generally only focus on security management rather than threat detection, resolution.
• Experience Level: Managed SOCs have highly skilled cybersecurity experts specialising in advanced threat detection and response. MSSPs might lack the same expertise and resources – and you don’t have the same SOC centre.
• Customisation: Managed SOCs give you personalised solutions for your business. MSSPs only offer standardised services that don’t fully address your unique security needs.

Choosing the Security Partner

Considering all of the above when selecting a Managed Service Partner for SOC, here are some tips for picking the best partner:

• Gartner Backed: Gartner backing will follow the Gartner SOC Model Guide – the gold standard for managed SOC to ensure all roles are filled to meet the SOC’s objective.
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs): The managed SOC provider should have clearly defined SLAs outlining their response times and handle matters of concern.
• Technology and Tools: Do they use enterprise-level tools and technologies designed to secure your IT environment? As we said, some companies use open-source, low-tier technology that can be risky.
• Communication and Reporting: Pick a managed SOC service that always sends you reports. A managed SOC should send regular reports and provide a dashboard for the customer’s management highlighting the security posture, a list of incident threats, and essential actionable insights for continuous cyber security improvements. 

Do you think you need a Managed SOC? If you look at the statistics we’ve given you throughout this article, we’d now say it’s essential for all brands with a growing online presence to invest in a Managed SOC service.