What is a Security Operations Centre?
A Security Operations Centre (SOC) is a centralised unit within an organisation that manages and monitors its overall cyber security posture. It’s like a mission control for security, staffed by a team of specialists who continuously analyse threats, investigate incidents and take steps to safeguard the organisation’s IT infrastructure.
Benefits_
- Proactive threat detection: SOCs provide real-time monitoring and analysis of security events, allowing them to identify and respond to potential threats before they turn into major breaches.
- Improved incident response: A well-equipped SOC can significantly reduce the time it takes to detect, investigate and contain a security incident. This minimises potential damage and helps restore normal operations quickly.
- Enhanced security visibility: SOCs aggregate data from various security tools across the organisation, providing a comprehensive view of the security landscape. This allows for better decision-making and resource allocation for security efforts.
Use cases_
- Security Monitoring and Event Management (SIEM): Microsoft Azure Sentinel is a SIEM solution that can be integrated into a SOC to collect and analyse security data from various Microsoft 365 services, on-premises systems and cloud workloads.
- Threat hunting: SOC analysts can leverage Microsoft Defender for Cloud to proactively hunt for potential threats within the organisation’s cloud environment.
- Incident response: Microsoft 365 Defender provides incident response tools that can be used by SOC teams to investigate and contain security incidents.
Key components_
- Security personnel: A SOC team typically consists of security analysts, incident responders, threat hunters and security engineers.
- Security tools and technologies: SIEM, endpoint protection platforms, firewalls, intrusion detection systems and threat intelligence feeds are some of the core technologies used within a SOC.
- Processes and procedures: Clearly defined workflows for threat detection, investigation, incident response and reporting are essential for an effective SOC.
