Building a first-class security operations center is no simple feat – maintaining it is even harder. Below, we discuss four security operations center best practices that every organization should strive for.
1. Start with strategy
The first step in establishing an organization’s SOC is to define a clear strategy that aligns with the organization’s business goals. This process should include an enterprise-wide assessment, during which the team can take inventory of existing assets and resources, and also identify gaps or potential vulnerabilities within the business that could be exploited by adversaries.
Another key aspect of strategic planning is developing a clear, comprehensive set of processes that will guide the SOC team in all manners of operation, including monitoring, detection, response and reporting.
Given the increasing complexity of the threat landscape, organizations will likely need to constantly review and update their strategy and processes to reflect new and emerging risks. Likewise, the organization at large must be made aware of basic security operations and best practices to help preserve the business’s overall health and performance.
2. Enable organization-wide visibility
The SOC can only protect known assets. At the same time, any device can compromise network security. It is crucial, therefore, that the SOC identifies all digital assets — including networks, databases, devices/endpoints, websites and information stores — and incorporates their individual data logs into a single monitoring and analysis function. It is also important to map the use of third-party services and traffic flowing between the assets, as threats may derive from this activity.
Creating this end-to-end visibility will not only help protect each asset individually, but also create a complete view of typical behavior and activity for the organization. This makes it easier for security technologies and tools to identify and prioritize risks and recommend actions for remediation in the future.
3. Establish the technology stack
The SOC is not a single asset — it is a combination of people, processes and technologies that work together to protect and defend the organization. On the technology side, there are many critical components that make up the digital backbone of the security center. These include the following:
A security information and event management (SIEM) system, which aggregates and correlates data from network and device security feeds
Digital assessment and monitoring systems, which detect anomalous behaviors or activity
Prevention tools, such as firewalls or antivirus software
Threat detection tools that use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to recognize suspicious activity and escalate it within the SOC
Threat response capabilities that use intelligent automation to automatically respond to low-level security threats and routine incidents
Due to the advanced nature of the threat landscape, as well as the complexity of the global business operations, organizations must leverage the latest digital technologies to stay a step ahead of cyber adversaries. Next-gen cloud-based security solutions play an important role, as they allow the organization to deploy tools quickly and support the ability to update or adapt to new threats.
What is dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM)? Dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) is an optical fiber multiplexing technology that is used to increase the bandwidth of existing fiber networks. It combines data signals from different sources over a single pair of optical fiber, while maintaining complete separation of the data streams. A separate light wavelength carries each…
Security Operations Center (SOC) Roles and Responsibilities A security operations center, or SOC, is an organizational or business unit operating at the center of security operations to manage and improve an organization’s overall security posture. Its primary function is to detect, analyze and respond to cybersecurity events, including threats and incidents, employing people, processes and…
How DWDM Technology Underpins GOIP’s Scalable and Reliable DCI Offerings As the demand for high-bandwidth, low-latency data centre connectivity continues to soar,service providers are turning to innovative technologies to meet the evolving needs of theircarrier and over-the-top (OTT) customers. At the heart of GOIP’s cutting-edge Data CenterInterconnect (DCI) solutions is Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM)…
Exceptional User Experience with SD-WAN’s App-Defined Fabric We take a closer look at the four key tenets that next-generation SD-WAN and SASE provide to deliver a branch network that is digital-first, secure and powered by the latest AI/ML innovations. Digital transformation has accelerated dramatically in the last few years with 95% of organizations stating that…
You have a challenge: you need to connect one data center to another several kilometers away. The work order specifies 810G fiber connections. While you could run all eight pairs of fiber across the campus, this would be extremely expensive. A more cost-effective solution is Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM).Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is a technology…
IP Transit – Everything Old is New Again! New technologies are always hot topics for media and analysts alike. As we, and the industry, enjoy our exciting roller-coaster ride up and down on Gartner’s parabolic hype-cycle curve for various new technologies, it is important not to lose sight of our underlying foundations. One of these…