Do you know that in the next 24 hours, there are 27.9% chances of cybersecurity attacks globally?
If you think that you can overlook the importance of the cybersecurity practices, do you know the average cost of data theft or cybersecurity breach for any business?
Well, if you have not heard it yet, a company may have to suffer from a giant loss of $3.38 million due to data breach. If you are worried about the cybersecurity of your company, it’s time to start looking for the solution.
See: Common Data Security Threats seen in Business
For the small businesses and the startups, having dedicated cybersecurity teams can be a major decision. Cybersecurity precautionary measures cannot be carried out by typical IT teams so you have to look for a reliable option for the security of your business and security operation centers can help you protect your business against online thefts and data breaches.
In this article, we are going to analyze the impact of the Security Operations Center (SOC) to manage cloud security of any business and how SOC can benefit your business.
What is Security Operations Center (SOC) ?
The security operations center is generally referred to as a team of cybersecurity professionals who are hired to protect the business against any kind of cybersecurity threat or security breach. SOC is meant to analyze, detect, investigate and eliminate any kind of cybersecurity threat before it impacts the business and the workflow.
SOC teams use the state of the art tools, programs and cybersecurity devices including breach detection tools, firewalls, SIEMs, intrusion detectors and other advance cybersecurity technologies around the clock. Continued scans are performed for the network to detect and neutralize any kind of cybersecurity threat or malicious file in the system. You can consider SOC as a dedicated IT department that is deployed to protect the business against cybersecurity threats and data breaches only.
See: Infrastructure Security Basics and Fundamentals
If you value the security of your online business, it’s time to take the cybersecurity on a serious note. If you have enough budgets to hire an in-house team of cybersecurity professionals for SOC, that’s great or you can hire the services of managed security services providers. For small-medium enterprises, outsourcing SOC operations is an affordable option as you have to pay for the services only.
Here are the six stages of SOC to ensure the security of your online business and data is good
Establishing Asset Awareness
First of all, acknowledging the required and available tools is the most important step in protecting the business. The technologies and the tools can vary according to the business nature. SOC team must have awareness of the allocated resources to prevent cybersecurity threats.
Preventive Security Monitoring
In the cybersecurity, preventive measures are way better than the response to any incident. Rather than waiting for the threat to happen, SOC teams detect the infectious files before they hit the system. This way, preventive measures can save the firm from any major damage or data loss.
Record Activities
Security analysts keep a record of all the communication and activities performed from your network. In the case of any mishap, these records help to trace the involved entities and to analyze the point where things went wrong.
Prioritizing Security Alerts
In case of any security breach, SOC managers work on prioritizing the steps needed to respond to the attack. This way, the team can focus on things that actually matter the most to save the business from any further damage.
Modifying Defense
Attackers are adopting new technologies and SOC analysts are responsible for upgrading the cybersecurity protocols and security measures according to the market trends.
Maintaining Compliance
Security analysts also work on the legislative stuff regarding the cybersecurity of the business. Authorities require businesses and companies to follow the legal codes. SOC also protects your business against any legal trouble.
Best Practices for SOC
Once you are done with establishing a SOC for your business, the next step is to ensure the efficient working of the center and for this purpose, here are some best practices for SOC
Enhance the Information Security Scope
With the advancement in the IT sector, new technologies like cloud computing and IoT are being deployed in business settings. It means that SOC also needs to cover these new technologies in order to ensure the maximum security of the business.
Improving Data Intake
SOC should also focus on collecting every little detail that can help the business to fight against any kind of cybersecurity attack. These stats and information pieces help the analysts to prepare the defense in a better way.
Better Data Analysis
Collecting more and more data is not the goal but the aim to extract the real information from the data. Security analysts are responsible for the in-depth analysis of the available data to analyze and detect the vulnerabilities and weak points.
Using Security Automation
The latest tools and technologies are empowering the SOC teams to get more done in less time. So, SOC managers are responsible to use the potential of automated systems for the optimization of security for your business.
Benefits of Security Operations Center
Having a dedicated team of cybersecurity experts can be the best investment for the security of your business. As more businesses are being targeted by hackers, having SOC is critical for the survival of any business in the competitive environment. The security threats are evolving and only a professional SOC team can help you to protect your business against these threats in modern ages. Here are some benefits of a security operations center for businesses and companies
- Protect the business and business records against any online threat or data breach
- Prepare the online defense to tackle the threat before the business is impacted
- Build trust in the market and offer security for the client’s data
- Enhance the working of the IT department without involving them in the security
- Maximize the security with least invest with outsourced services
Building the SOC and hiring the analysts can cost a fortune to a small-medium business. Hence, outsourcing SOC operations can help you to cut the cost of the hardware and the instruments required. No matter where you are located, you are never safe from cybersecurity and right now is the high time to take some serious steps for the protection of the system.