To survive the ever-increasing threat of cyber attacks, businesses need to be in a position to detect and react to incidents quickly. Many businesses suffer catastrophically due to cyber attacks because they fail to prepare. One of the best solutions for keeping your business safe is setting up a Security Operations Centre (SOC). A SOC is run by security professionals who work to monitor an organisation’s entire information domain in order to prevent, detect and respond to any potential threats.
EY’s 19th Global Information Security Survey 2016-17 reported that 44% of companies who participated did not have a SOC, putting them at great risk of attack. So why is a SOC so important, and how you can set one up in your business?
Establish what’s important to your business
To set up a SOC, you need to be clear what your business is trying to prevent against. What data and information do you have that could be stolen? What devices need protecting? What are your most critical assets?
Awareness of what you are looking for is key to detection and prevention. Look for incoming attacks before they look for you. You may want to create likely scenarios to establish how you would react to them if they actually happened.
Get to know the SIEM
Answering the questions above, you may have established one of the biggest fears for your business is the theft of sensitive data. It’s crucial to ensure the implementation of a system that helps to prevent this. A key element of a SOC is the Security Information and Event Management system (SIEM). This automated system collects information about any devices used within the organisation, and analyses activity from login attempts to data transfers. If anything appears suspicious, the system will flag this up so threats can be dealt with quickly.
Once the threat has been identified, it is then up to human judgement to decide how to act. The highly experienced security professionals that run a SOC will know the best route to take. For example, the detection of a threat may spark an immediate removal of network access for a certain IP address, or it may warrant a deeper investigation.
You don’t have to do it yourself
Whilst you need to understand your business’s weak points and what should be monitored by the SIEM, you may be concerned your business needs to invest in expensive equipment and new staff to set up a SOC. This doesn’t have to be the case. You can outsource your SOC for complete peace of mind. An outsourced SOC will take charge of continuous monitoring, and will be on hand to offer expert advice and provide any updates on threats that they’ve detected and prevented. Read part two of this blog to find out why outsourcing your information and security to a 3rd party Security Operations Centre is a great option.
Find out more about our state-of-the-art Security Operations Centre and get in touch to keep your business safe.
