Security Operations Center (SOC) Career: Roles and Responsibilities

Cybersecurity is more crucial than ever before for modern businesses. Criminal hackers and other dangers are growing increasingly sophisticated, despite companies using advanced antivirus software, firewalls, and other tools. Businesses must remain vigilant to ensure their information and data systems are secure against the current threats. To your knowledge, this can be a lengthy process.

In any case, a solution to this predicament is to employ a SOC analyst to head up a SOC team. There has been a recent uptick in businesses trying to build the strongest SOC teams. Have they not yet completed this? This essay will explain what a SOC specialist is and how they may assist you.

In case you haven’t come across the acronym SOC before, allow me to explain.SOC stands for “security operations center,” encompassing the team responsible for ensuring the security of the business’s IT and systems. The hired SOC expert will oversee overall operations, necessitating a profound understanding of IT procedures, meticulous emergency planning, and the ability to handle daily events, incidents, and security breaches. Ideally, the SOC analyst career can implement sufficient safeguards such that this contingency plan is never activated.

When asked, “What is a SOC team?” most people usually answer with “a group of people who
A security operations center (SOC) is responsible for constantly monitoring and analyzing the company’s security measures. In addition, it prevents security threats and actively isolates and reduces risk.

Functions on SOC Teams

In cybersecurity, security analysts play the role of first responders. They report on the situation and make any necessary adjustments to keep the company safe from cyber attacks. Usually reporting to the CISO, they collaborate with security managers and cybersecurity engineers as the last line of defense against cyberattacks.

SOC engineers are often experts in either software or hardware, and their job is to ensure that all infrastructure is up to date. It is also their job to create any necessary documentation that other team members may refer to, such as digital security protocols.

The SOC engineer reports directly to the SOC manager. They oversee all aspects of the SOC, including communication between analysts and engineers, staffing, education, and developing and implementing a comprehensive security plan. Furthermore, they oversee and coordinate the company’s reaction to significant security incidents.

The chief information security officer (CISO) ‘s role is strategic, with the overarching goal of defining and enforcing the organization’s security-related plans, policies, and procedures. They report directly to the CEO and work closely with them to notify management of security risks.
In more prominent security organizations, the director of incident response (IR) handles issues as they arise and relays the organization’s security needs in case of a significant data breach.

SOC Duties and Functions

Four tiers of SOC analysts make up the structure. SIEM alarms are routed to Tier 1 analysts who monitor, prioritize, and examine the events. Tier 2 analysts have more extensive security experience and receive real threats for further examination before making containment decisions.

A Tier 3 SOC analyst takes over incident management for critical breaches and is responsible for proactive, round-the-clock threat hunting. When severe security incidents occur, the Tier 4 analyst oversees the entire SOC regarding recruitment, strategy, priorities, and day-to-day operations.

What is the SOC responsible for?

The SOC’s soc role, soc analyst role, and the role of soc analyst are to defend the company’s network from malicious cyber activity. To efficiently handle security issues, SOC teams are tasked with a range of tasks, such as:

Potential Incident Investigation: SOC teams get a lot of notifications, but not all indicate actual assaults. A SOC analyst’s job is to investigate a possible incident and decide whether or not it is a genuine attack or a false positive.

Incident Prioritization and Triage:  A company limits its incident response resources, and not every security event is equal. To save costs and maximize efficiency, companies must triage and prioritize incidents upon discovery.

Coordination of Incident Response:  Addressing an incident involves multiple parties and resource allocation, and SOC analysts coordinate this procedure to ensure efficient and effective remediation without delays or omissions.
Although the incident response is integral to the SOC’s job, that’s not all they do.

Additional Responsibilities

Keeping Up:  SOC teams must handle up-to-date enterprise threats in an ever-evolving cyber threat landscape. This entails monitoring and responding to emerging threats, as well as maintaining an accurate and extensive rule collection for security systems.

To prevent cybercriminals from exploiting systems, security holes must be patched. It is the job of SOC teams to find out whether enterprise software and hardware are vulnerable, then fix them and test them.
Administration of Infrastructural Resources: The company network requires new security solutions as the cyber threat landscape shifts and advances. Security operations centers are responsible for locating, installing, configuring, and managing the organization’s security infrastructure.

Many SOC teams work as part of the IT department to handle support tickets. This means that SOC analysts may be asked to handle internal support requests.

Security operations centers (SOCs) are another department that must report to upper management. To do this, you need to be able to explain security’s price tag and ROI to business people.
A wide variety of tasks fall under the purview of SOC teams. And If these teams are understaffed or lack appropriate resources, some of their responsibilities may fall by the wayside.

An Overview of a SOC Analyst’s Primary Responsibilities

The SOC analyst monitors the systems and software to maintain optimal performance and promptly communicates any issues. Understanding the role and responsibilities of a SOC team and expert can benefit your business. While hiring a SOC specialist can be costly, it’s crucial to grasp their unique roles and responsibilities. The primary duties of a SOC analyst are as follows.

Seek Out any Suspicious Events

Your SOC operator is tasked with investigating fraud or other questionable behavior across your company’s information and data platforms. Even if you don’t think cybercriminals are after you specifically, it’s always wise to look into any suspicious activity. A security operations center (SOC) analyst has the expertise to quickly and efficiently investigate suspected activity by performing the appropriate checks.

Ensure the Safety of Monitoring Equipment

The SOC analyst monitors cybersecurity systems and software, ensuring optimal performance and promptly communicating any issues to the team. Upgrading the tool may suffice, but constant monitoring is necessary to ensure smooth operation and efficiency, as flawed tools pose a risk to effectiveness.

SOC Analyst Responsibilities

Soc job description security operations center roles and responsibilities security operations center job description includes the following:

Coordinate With Other SOC Members and Delegate Responsibilities

Likely, your SOC analyst will also serve as a team leader, so they’ll need to be adept at managing people. As a result, they will be responsible for communicating with the rest of the team and keeping everyone informed of developments. Further, they will have to delegate work and responsibilities as they arise. An effective leader in this role will ensure everyone in the team is pulling in the same direction and accomplishing their goals.

All Cybersecurity Procedures Should Be Evaluated And Reported On

The SOC position is also responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of the business’s existing cybersecurity procedures. They will need to maintain reports detailing each process’s state and identify areas for potential improvement. The Chief Technology Officer, Chief Information Officer, or Chief Information Security Officer should receive these reports.

Always Use The Most Recent Versions Of Available Security Tools

To ensure the highest possible security for information systems, it is crucial to keep the tools and resources used for cybersecurity, such as antivirus software, firewalls, vulnerability scanning, and system-wide operating systems, up to date at all times. The SOC specialist must implement these changes.

image reference: Photo by Anna Shvets