Have you identified the need for a more comprehensive, well-resourced cyber security provision for your organisation? If you’ve decided to outsource a portion of your security monitoring and remediation to an MSSP (managed security service provider) in the form of a SOC (security operations centre), there are key capabilities to look out for to ensure your new SOC service is thoroughly delivering on your investment.
Eight Key Capabilities of a Premium SOC Service
1 - 24/7 Detection of Threats
Cyber criminals operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – and your SOC service should do the same. A good managed SOC should fill the gaps your internal team is unable to cover, and 24/7 threat detection, covering the nights and weekends most teams aren’t available, is an excellent example of how a SOC can instantly boost your organisation’s cyber protection. Ensure this coverage is guaranteed when choosing your SOC provider and not an alerting service or on call security responder.
2 - Rapid Incident Response
When it comes to cyber attacks, time is of the essence. The quicker a potential threat is detected, triaged, and remediated, the less time threat actors are able to spend within your environment, and consequently, business impact is reduced.
Unlike threat detection, (which is commonly comprehensive) threat response can vary significantly across managed SOC services. If necessary (and in our experience, for many it is necessary), ensure that your MSSP will not only detect threats as soon as they occur, but also proactively triage, contain and even remediate the incident where appropriate.
3 - Incident Containment & Triage
Whether your SOC’s incident response constitutes complete remediation or containment and triage, a premium managed SOC service should have either human-lead, intelligently automated, or a combination approach to containment practices in place to block threats as they enter your environment, collecting the maximum amount of data available and minimising the impact an attack can have on your organisation.
4 - Transparent SLAs
An obvious but essential factor. Ideally an SLA for detection, analysis, and notification of critical threat events under 15 minutes should be assured for a premium SOC service. Whatever the SLA of your chosen MSSP, it’s worth reviewing what this means in practice: the events covered within the SLA, the response promised (be that identification, notification, or remediation), and whether it applies outside of standard working hours.
5 - Sufficient Resource Power
The primary driving force behind the majority of organisations’ decision to pursue a managed SOC service is a lack of suitable in-house resource and expertise to meet security demands. Ensure your chosen MSSP has a reliably robust resource pool (particularly in those specific solution areas you require) to respond to multiple simultaneous customer attacks and provide consistent ongoing protection for your business.
6 - Bespoke Packages
From industry-specific compliance obligations to niche tools, reputational demands and more, a premium SOC service should be able to tailor your package to suit your organisation’s individual requirements in a way that offers reassurance on the part of the business and the required visibility for the SOC’s security team, regardless of your circumstances.
7 - Flexibility
If your business experiences growth or needs to downscale its security provision, your SOC service should be primed to facilitate these changes without interruption to your protection. Ultimately, an external managed SOC provider should offer simplicity and flexibility over an in-house alternative, so ensure your chosen provider is offering a package that can adapt to suit your ongoing requirements.
8 - A Dedicated Team
A truly great SOC service is an extension of your IT security team, rather than a separate entity. Look for a SOC provider able to guarantee a consistent team, dedicated to your account with frequent engagement. Over time, the understanding and familiarity between your SOC team and in-house staff will lead to richer, more fruitful communication when it’s time to receive data or discuss potential threats.
If you’ve opted to pursue a SOC service, you should ensure you’re getting the maximum return on your security and financial investment. Threatscape’s range of premium managed security services, powered by SecurityHQ, offer a scalable, compliant, and cost-effective solution to the need for 24×7 cyber vigilance.
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