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The Crucial Role of the SOC & Its Team in Today’s Cyber Landscape
Chris Swagler | August 30th, 2024
In today’s hyper-connected world, cyber threats are ceaseless and often unrelenting. Because of the severity of potential consequences experienced following a successful cyberattack, organizations spend a lot of time and money building up their defenses. This cause is justified as the cost associated with a data breach continues to rise; @IBM’s latest Cost of a Data Breach Report indicates the average cost is $4.88 million, which represents a 10% increase from the previous year1. Assisting businesses in optimizing their defense is a subset of cybersecurity professionals who are (equally ceaseless and unrelenting) in countering global threat actors.
What is a Security Operations Center and Why is it Important?
Imagine a vigilant team operating out of a state-of-the-art facility equipped with the latest technology monitoring your digital environment around the clock, ready to detect and neutralize threats before they cause harm to your business. These days, the team within this Security Operations Center (SOC) is a necessary frontline defense, providing constant network monitoring, rapid incident response, and peace of mind to the clients they serve.
For most businesses, building an in-house SOC is not really an option, with annual cost estimates ranging from $2-7 million, depending on numerous factors like hours of operation, size of attack surface to defend, and overhead2. A SOC is not just a place; it is a complex system comprised of tools, processes, procedures, and people with extensive technical education and experience who share a mission, mindset, and focus.
As businesses continue to incorporate diverse software into their daily operations—of which the failure of one can lead to significant downtime and monetary losses—and handle highly sensitive personal data and intellectual property, the need for assistance in managing their growing technology stack often requires outsourced assistance. More and more, organizations look to a managed SOC provider for this (assistance).
According to @Productiv, a software as a service (SaaS) application management organization, “the average SaaS portfolio decreased to 342 apps…from 374 in 2022” with small, medium, and mid-market organizations decreasing usage by 10% and enterprise sized by 11%3. Each one of these applications represents a tool that organizations must manage within their networks and a potential access point for threat actors. As third party cyberattacks continue an upward trajectory, businesses require external assistance with managing and monitoring some of the most significant SaaS applications to their operations: email tenants, CRM (customer relationship management) software, or messaging platforms.
SOC teams are more equipped now than ever to assist with this endeavor, particularly with current staff shortages. Per a joint report produced by @Cyberseek, @NIST, @CompTIA, and @Lightcast, “There are only enough cybersecurity workers to fill 85 percent of vacant jobs in the United States”, which points, once again, to the great need of businesses to receive cybersecurity support from a fully managed SOC4.
Who Works Within a SOC? Let’s Meet the SOC Team
Analysts & Engineers: Cybersecurity analysts and engineers in a 24/7 SOC primarily monitor organization’s network and elevate or respond to identified threats in real-time. Their role involves using advanced tools to identify vulnerabilities, mitigate risks, and ensure compliance with security policies. They collaborate with other IT teams to implement security measures, conduct threat intelligence, and continuously recommend improvements to client organization’s security posture. Their tasks further include analyzing security alerts, conducting threat intelligence, and escalating incidents to higher-level security experts when necessary. The analyst also helps in implementing security protocols, creating reports, and providing recommendations to enhance security measures. By maintaining constant vigilance, they play a crucial role in protecting the organization’s data and systems from cyber threats.
DevSecOps: The Development, Security, and Operations (DevSecOps) teams plays a crucial role in a SOC by embedding security practices within the software development lifecycle. They help ensure that security is a continuous, shared responsibility across the distinct Dev, Sec, and Ops teams. By integrating automated security tools and processes, they help identify and mitigate vulnerabilities early, reducing risks and enhancing software quality. This approach fosters a proactive security culture, enabling rapid, secure software releases and minimizing potential threats. As this team brings vast knowledge of the various software used by others to detect and respond to threats, they play a key role in bridging knowledge or skills gaps, bringing robust protection to a complex environment. In @IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, one of the numerous components that consistently ranks as a top “factor that reduced the average breach cost” is a “DevSecOps approach”1.
Digital Forensics: Digital forensics (also known as Digital Forensics and Incident Response, or DFIR) involves the investigation and analysis of digital devices and networks to uncover evidence of cybercrimes. Members of this team focus on identifying, preserving, examining, and presenting digital data to help organizations understand how breaches occurred, who was responsible, and what data was compromised. This process is vital for organizations as it enables them to strengthen their defenses and support legal actions, when necessary. Essentially, DFIR is the practice of solving cybercrimes through meticulous digital evidence analysis.
Account Leads/Comms: Customer service and regular communication is vital between the SOC team and customers; this is particularly the case during and after a significant incident. While organizations often partner with a SOC to take a “hands-off” approach to their cybersecurity—entrusting others with the experience and resources to manage their overall cyber posture – they still deserve to know exactly what is happening within their network. Account leads and representatives typically work closely with all members of the SOC team handling a specific incident so they can pass along the most relevant and up-to-date information while also fielding questions and responding to concerns.
Managers & Support: A successful SOC will have effective and collaborative managers and support members across all of the aforementioned tasks to help ensure there are no gaps in the identification and response processes.
Case Study: An example the SpearTip SOC team stopping an active threat for our client
A healthcare organization experiencing an active cyber incident contacted SpearTip’s Breach Response Hotline requesting investigation and asset recovery services. At this point, they were uncertain as to the origination or scope of the breach.
The Incident Response (DFIR) team scoped the call to learn more about the client’s digital environment as the team spun up necessary infrastructure to begin the investigation. Once deployed, SOC Engineers gained control of their network and noticed the threat actor attempting to re-infect the client.
Our Analysts escalated the issue and our DevSecOps team supported with stabilizing actions. All the while, our IR lead, in coordination with the Account Lead, maintained continuous contact with the client to assist them in bolstering defenses and securing critical data.
Ultimately, our SOC team identified, isolated, and remediated the threat as we continued the investigation, helping the client avoid a follow-on attack.
The Digital Forensics investigation revealed the first attack originated with foreign firewall connections. The Forensics from the second attack, which was interrupted in progress, indicated that RansomHub gained access to the network through open remote management software (RMM) ports. Fortunately, the client had viable backups and the investigation allowed all vulnerabilities to be remediated to prevent lateral movement and additional access to a threat actor.
The foundation of a SOC is on the continuous improvement of network security and data protection for clients. This comes from gathering and organizing threat intelligence, creating response playbooks for every observed, observable, and potential attack, and working with numerous diverse clients all seeking to optimize their posture, remediate discovered vulnerabilities, and cyber policies, processes, and personnel training and education.
Securing client environments against threat actors and helping maintain organizational resilience requires a dedicated, experienced, and communicative team operating on a 24/7 basis.
Arctic Wolf. “How Much Does It Cost to Build a SOC?” Arctic Wolf, 21 May 2024, https://arcticwolf.com/resources/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-soc/.
Productiv. “2024 State of SaaS Growth.” https://productiv.com/state-of-saas/2024-saas-trends-growth/.
Cyberseek. Cybersecurity Supply And Demand Heat Map. https://www.cyberseek.org/heatmap.html. Accessed 27 Aug. 2024.
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