The number of cyberattacks is steadily increasing by around 50% every year, so your business needs to invest in measures and solutions that maximize cybersecurity. One of the most important of these solutions is a security operations center (SOC).
What is a SOC?
A SOC is a team of cybersecurity specialists whose main responsibility is to identify, analyze, and respond to cybersecurity risks. They leverage sophisticated tools to continuously monitor IT systems for anomalous activities that may indicate an attack, such as alerts from endpoint detection & response systems, threat alerts regarding phishing scams, hacking, and distributed denial-of-service attacks. Issues detected are promptly addressed to minimize the impact of a security threat and reduce the risk of a risk becoming a full-blown cyber incident and disrupting your operations.
What type of SOC should you invest in?
There are generally two ways to leverage a SOC: by building an internal SOC or outsourcing to a third-party provider. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of each option.
Internal SOC
An in-house SOC is composed of IT professionals whose sole function is to look after your company’s cybersecurity. Your company has full control over the tools the SOC uses and the processes it employs. This means you can tailor these to be compatible with the various components of your IT infrastructure and to suit your company’s specific needs.
Additionally, you know exactly how and where your internal SOC stores all the data and event logs it collects. You can easily implement additional security measures to protect these data from exposure and loss, which may be ideal for compliance with certain industry standards. The SOC team will also be tailored to your specific needs and business requirements.
However, having an internal SOC comes at a very hefty price. Recruiting cybersecurity specialists is both difficult and expensive, thanks to the shortage of IT talent in the United States and the high salaries that these professionals usually command. You’ll also need to pay for advanced detection, analysis, and remediation tools for your SOC to use. These are only the initial costs of an in-house SOC.
Cyberthreats evolve over time, so the members of your SOC must keep abreast of the latest developments in IT security. They must undergo regular training and the tools they use may need to be updated as well, and your company will have to shoulder the costs of these. For these reasons, an internal SOC isn’t a practical solution for most small- and medium-sized businesses.
Outsourced SOC
Your company can outsource your SOC to managed IT services providers (MSPs) like Fidelis . MSPs can provide the highly trained and experienced cybersecurity specialists, utilizing high-end tools, adept at helping companies comply with industry standards. Outsourcing gives you access to all these benefits but at a fraction of the cost of building an internal SOC, as MSPs can spread the cost over multiple clients, charging an affordable fee.
An outsourced SOC also does not require as considerable a time investment as an in-house SOC does. You won’t have to wait long to recruit the right people, compete with other companies that are hiring, or procure and install new tools and technologies. As most MSPs work remotely, they can immediately install their tools and get started with protecting your business.
On the downside, some businesses hesitate to entrust their network and data to third parties. After all, third parties often use their own tools and store data in their own servers. Service level agreements (SLAs) can help allay this uncertainty by providing your company with guarantees on the quality of service you can expect from an MSP. These agreements cover essential factors like turnaround times, as well as penalties for the MSP’s inability to meet the outcomes they promise. SLAs, therefore, reduce uncertainty and contribute to your peace of mind.
A SOC can dramatically enhance your business’s cybersecurity. Building an in-house SOC, however, can take a serious toll on your company’s resources, so you should consider outsourcing instead. At Fidelis , our team of cybersecurity specialists possesses the knowledge and tools necessary to protect your network around the clock.
Learn how we can protect your business from downtime and its dangerous effects by downloading this free eBook today.
