Significance of modern SOC, MDR services

In these modern times, the threat landscape continues to expand. Tactics previously used by cyber criminals have evolved – they are now highly skilled and are motivated by financial and geopolitical gains, circumventing security controls more stealthily than was previously possible.

Here is a list of important factors to consider when addressing cyber security in enterprises and in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs):

1. No business is immune to breaches in security – no matter their size or industry.
2. Organisations cannot keep up with the increasing number and sophistication of threats, due to the evolution of the threat landscape.
3. A successful data breach costs time, resources and reputations. In addition to the expense of detecting, mitigating and cleaning up after a breach, there are also long-term costs.
4. Expansion of the attack surface is increasing due to the number of employees working from home and the growing use of the cloud.
5. Insufficient detection and response time. Hackers have enough time to move laterally in systems and achieve their objectives without being detected by standard security solutions.
6. Organisations struggle with compliance obligations that require them to meet specific cyber security requirements.

To help businesses navigate cyber security risks, many delegate to internal or external security operation centres (SOC).

“In general, while every SOC team implements the organisation’s overall cyber security strategy and co-ordinates efforts to monitor, assess and defend against cyber attacks, modern SOCs also focus on reducing the time attackers have access to resources by detecting, responding to and helping recover from incidents,” says Dominic Richardson, CEO of Dolos.

An SOC is a facility where the information security team constantly monitors and analyses the security of an organisation through logs and alerts. The primary purpose of the SOC team is to detect, analyse and respond to cyber security incidents using technology, people and processes.

However, the requirements for SOCs have evolved in recent years – as the volume and sophistication of threats grow, the damage to businesses’ income and reputations increases, the attack surface expands and the volume of cyber security data and alerts to handle grows exponentially.

In addition to the functions of an SOC, the modern SOC monitors the network, endpoints, applications and user activity to proactively detect abnormal behaviours, investigate those indicators of a security incident or attack and immediately respond to the threats.

Those threats can bypass the existing security controls and lurk in the organisational environment looking for an opportunity to gain access and breach company assets. By being ahead of the adversary, the modern SOC can anticipate its detection and response, stopping it before the damage is done, avoiding the compromise, mitigating the impact and reducing the incident costs.

Many modern SOCs operate 24 hours a day, with employees working shifts to monitor activity, detect abnormal behaviour and mitigate threats that can otherwise pass under the radar.

The modern SOC staff may work closely with other teams or departments, but are typically self-contained with security analysts and engineers with distinguished cyber security skills to ensure security issues are addressed quickly on discovery.

While SOCs tend to react to a security incident by rapidly searching for a fix without digging too deep, modern SOCs act proactively to uncover and hunt for threats in their very first steps in the network and deeply investigate the course of action, the threat group and the reasons behind the incident. By using a proactive approach, analysts can identify the weaknesses of the organisation’s security programme and establish a robust plan to improve its security posture to avoid future incidents and reduce the time of exposure to threats and their repercussions.

MDR service providers deliver remote threat hunting, proactive detection, investigation and response functions from a modern SOC to customers through a cloud-based infrastructure.

MDR service providers offer a turnkey experience, using a predefined technology stack to collect relevant logs, system activity, data and contextual information. This telemetry is analysed within the provider’s platform using various technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) and up-to-the-minute threat intelligence. This process allows for investigation by skilled analysts who deliver actionable outcomes or actively respond through threat mitigation and containment.

When a threat is detected, they will verify the criticality and investigate the incident to find the root cause and course of action, while actively responding or recommending the response to the partner and customer.

WatchGuard for SOCs provides a series of leading-edge solutions specialised in addressing and solving the security problems of organisations with higher levels of maturity in cyber security managed by security service providers, modern SOCs and MDR service providers.

WatchGuard for SOCs administers products and services that automate their advanced security programmes and augment their security teams with expertise, technologies and processes that enable them to uncover, detect, contain and respond rapidly to threats that have successfully evaded other protections.

Learn more about modern SOCs and MDR services by reaching out to the experienced team at Dolos. They will assist you in setting up a complimentary assessment tailored to your organisation’s unique requirements.