The latest news of the eminent startup Apollo data breach is roaming around the world. According to the report, the massive database of approximately 200 million individuals of 10 million corporations has been hacked. It might be possible that the compromised data is not that much sensitive but, the company has to face strict accountability from the European Union under the recent imposition of GDRP.
Similar pieces of news including this have triggered an alarm for other companies. They need to focus on 24/7 monitoring of their communication networks in order to safeguard their organisational data assets. Of course, security operations centres (SOC) can be considered the last resort to all and sundry.
Consider the case scenario:
You are working as the IT analyst in a multinational company located in the UK having around five thousand employees to handle business at the local market. Suddenly, a meeting is called to red alert the staff regarding potential threats posing severe risks to the digital resources of the company.
The top management suggests acquiring comprehensive services from London SOC. However, the CEO aspires for the best services. Now being responsible for recommending comprehensive solutions, you are required to elaborate the SOC types or levels and select the most appropriate level of SOC service to be implemented across the clock.
Capabilities of the Security Operations Center
No doubt, it is tempting to hold a calculator and start adding up the money to fulfil security requirements.
However, the most prominent element which can affect the process is the quality measurements. The cost primarily based on the capabilities of the solution to be implemented within the organisation. So, first of all, you need to determine that what efficiency is expected from the intended SOC services.
Considering the essential capabilities and services of the SOC will be helpful. It not only aware you about the requirements and investment but also will help you the cost required to hire third-party service providers.
Let’s consider the four basic SOC facilities:
The basic or elementary SOC
As its name indicates, it is primarily focused to detect anomalies and less useful for in-depth investigations. The data analysts operate the security systems using SIEM which is deployed to maintain data integrity.
Overall, this level of security operation centre helps to detect information hacks using inventive methods. However, there are limitations of flexibility in hunting the complex threats.
The intermediate or mid-level SOC
This level offers extended visibility to the organisations in supervising the anomalies and potential risks. The SOC is considered master in the detection of possible threats in the nooks and crannies of the organisations’ databases.
Besides the necessary level of error detection, SIEM is deployed in combination with EDR and related technologies of network forensics. It is done to ensure advanced detection of the threats.
However, the major limitation, in this case, is the operational reality. It is because the experts spend extended hours monitoring the SOC services and have confused viewpoint. The reason is that on some days, all goes well, but the situation might get worse on the other day.
The advanced or high-level SOC
This level of SOC gives a kind of spare time to the security analysts for other processes. The security of information is maintained in tiers using the SIEM. Various integrity plugs and correlation rules are defined for specialised products depending upon the needs and scope.
By implementing the advanced services of London SOC, the IT professional can fetch data from the communication networks without even leaving the SIEM. This helps to improve the speed and quality of information security.
The learning or applied SOC
Above the advanced SOC, this level is significant in adding value to complex network monitoring and supervision of data accessed through communication links. The infrastructure is built to foster extended analytics and automation.
The responsibility of the IT professional after implementation of such SOC capabilities is to focus on significant human activities while the software does other stuff related to information monitoring.
Therefore, artificial intelligence based security systems are incorporated by customised policies and procedures to detect, analyse and investigate potential threats and anomalies.
Picking the right flavour for you
After considering all the mentioned types, levels or services of SOC, the question is still there. What is the SOC service suitable for your organisation?
However, it is not all about getting allured by the facilitation offered by each level of the security to make it a big pick. But, organisations make their decisions based on the cost incurred by every level to be implemented fully.
Further, the accessibility of human resource is a major consideration; you will have to make while selecting the most appropriate SOC.
In such a situation and considering the case study provided in the start, it might be suggested that select a level of security between the primary and intermediate initially. Don’t forget to get a professional consultation from Si Consult a leading cyber security and SOC service provider to make a better decision.
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