5 reasons why you should outsource your SOC

Despite the costs and resources required to build a SOC in-house, large enterprises and corporations often benefit from taking this approach, as they can put in both the time and investment to customize a SOC to the needs of the business. However, this is usually out of financial reach for most mid-tier and smaller organizations.

A well-managed SOC requires experienced analysts and the capabilities to work around the clock to deliver full security coverage. Any organization looking to set up a SOC in-house should be aware of its complexities and how it could impact both their security and resources.

With that in mind, let’s explore 5 difficulties your business may encounter when building a SOC and how outsourcing could be your solution:

1. Complexity

Building a SOC in-house is challenging and one that requires diligent planning and implementation to ensure maximum cyber protection and ROI. Businesses that are already busy with existing projects or do not have the expertise will find managing a SOC difficult. You should also consider the complexities of configuring, maintaining and managing a SIEM. Without the appropriate security expertise, building and managing a SOC in-house will reduce the effectiveness of your security function. There are several other factors that need to be considered too, such as establishing a budget, who will oversee the project, and how long before a fully operational SOC can begin to perform.

Solution

Outsourcing a SOC is easier to implement and manage than if you build one in-house. An MSSP will already have an existing infrastructure in place, including skilled security analysts who are experts at configuring and maintaining a SIEM, to comprehensively deliver instant threat detection and response. SOC-as-a-service also removes the complexity of finding skilled workers and training staff, and MSSPs will already have access to the latest threat detection and response. Therefore, you can expect greater ROI by outsourcing your SOC with little disruption to your existing business structure and operations.

2. Volume of alerts

To be effective, SIEM tools must ingest large amounts of log data from a variety of sources to identify suspicious activity across an organization's attack surface. SOC analysts can expect to receive an average of 11,000 security alerts per day, depending on the size of the business, environment, and customer base. This can quickly become overwhelming. Alert fatigue is an issue security teams can suffer as a result of an influx of security alerts. Reasons for this can include false positive security alerts that typically occur due to configuration issues, internal SOC teams not using their resources efficiently due to lack of skills and training, or that their internal threat intelligence tools don’t have automation features to reduce the manual triage of security threats. If security alerts are missed, ignored, or not dealt with in a timely manner, they can expose the business to cyberattacks and data breaches.

Solution

Businesses that outsource their SOC to an MSSP have greater peace of mind that their SOC teams are equipped with the necessary tools to mitigate alert fatigue. This means they can continue to provide effective threat detection and response to improve your cyber posture. Outsourced SOCs that leverage automation will streamline security alerts, helping to build a more accurate and efficient triage process and highlighting alerts that require the most attention.

3. Skill shortage

For several years, the cyber security industry has been around 40% short in cyber skills worldwide. In a lagging skills market, security analysts are in high demand making it challenging for businesses recruiting for in-house SOC teams. Businesses will find it difficult to recruit and retain employees due to a low talent pool, high salaries, and the cost to train prospective candidates. This prevents an in-house SOC from providing effective threat detection and response.

Solution

With an outsourced SOC, your business will get direct access to qualified and experienced security analysts to monitor and manage a business’ network and digital environment. By outsourcing you remove the burden of recruiting, create new departments, or allocate additional funds for salaries and training expenses. Your SOC service provider will have budgets specifically to cope with skills shortages and employee turnover.

4. Employee burnout

In certain cases, SOC analysts can endure laborious work hours and abnormal shift patterns that can be exhausting and stressful. There are four key factors that are taking a toll on security analysts: burnout due to an increased workload, lack of visibility of a business’ network traffic, being on call 24/7, and alert overloads. High employee turnover due to workplace stress will also impact businesses who struggle to retain experienced personnel in an industry already suffering from a shortage of skilled workers. If security analysts aren’t performing to their full capabilities, or are written off due to work-related stress, businesses may struggle to provide adequate cover to maintain a SOC that delivers strong protection against cyber threats.

Solution

An outsourced SOC can reliably deliver proactive threat detection and response 24/7/365. Hackers simply don’t operate on a 9 to 5 basis therefore working around the clock is a commitment security analysts must demonstrate for a SOC to function effectively. Responding to incidents and alerts outside of office hours is crucial in maintaining comprehensive cyber protection. A backlog of incidents can impact your business heavily when the threat landscape is broad and attacks can happen at any time, especially if you don’t have the resources to manage employee turnover.

SOC providers invest heavily in preventing employee burnout, and provisioning for employee vacation and sick leave. This gives your business the benefits of a SOC without the headache and overhead of avoiding burnout.

5. Costly and time-consuming

Building a SOC in-house is extremely costly and takes a lot of time. A SOC can take up to 12 months, or longer, to build from scratch and maintenance is equally Labour intensive. Factors to consider when building a SOC include the operational demands of recruiting experienced analysts and acquiring and maintaining state-of-the-art software like a SIEM tool. Businesses must be fully prepared to handle the expense of constructing a SOC, as considerable time and resources will also be needed before any real-world security improvements are seen.

Solution

Outsourcing your SOC will prove to be a cost-effective solution, producing greater ROI. It will also be easier to secure board level buy-in, as you will only pay for the services you need. There are no additional costs required to recruit staff or develop and maintain the technology, freeing up resources to focus on other areas of your business.