There is more to having a Security Operations Center (SOC) than simply putting it in place. An SOC that doesn’t keep hackers from encroaching on your system is as good as a security system that does the exact opposite. The first step to defending your organization is quantifying SOC security operations. The question is how?
Defining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
KPIs are like the vital signs of your SOC. Without them, it will be impossible to evaluate overall performance. Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time to Respond (MTTR) check how quickly the SOC detects threats and responds to fighting them. The number of incidents detected and responded to is an indicator of the SOC’s performance. If the numbers don’t add up, your SOC needs more work.
Evaluating Incident Detection and Response Times
By focusing on the MTTD and the MTTR, you can quickly pick up on threats; otherwise, they become a big issue. By way of illustration, a data breach that is not discovered for several days stretches its severity. But the more you reduce the mean time to detect and respond, the better a SOC can serve a company.
Assessing the Quality of Threat Intelligence
It’s more important that the gathered intelligence is the right one. That way, your SOC will be better able to recognize and prevent new threats in a timely manner. Set a way to identify your threat intelligence and weigh their sources and consistency, and adapt the data to a potential real-world impact.
Monitoring False Positives and Alert Fatigue
When false alarms happen too often, your analysts feel overwhelmed and may not recognize actual threats. Eventually, they start to ignore their alerts, and that’s when real attackers can get through. Fine-tune your alerting processes so you can prevent your team from feeling overwhelmed and ensure they can function at their best.
Reviewing Incident Resolution and Post-Incident Analysis
Responding to incidents is just half the battle. Learning from them helps you determine whether your team could do anything more effectively and how to prevent similar incidents in the future. Documenting lessons learned and updating your processes accordingly makes sure your SOC operations can continually improve.
Measuring SOC Efficiency and Resource Utilization
Resource allocation means evaluating how well you’re using everything. Look at work distribution: are you properly balancing work among the team, or are some people too overwhelmed and others underutilized? How quickly is your staff resolving incidents and what is the total value? Review the return on investment (ROI) of SOC tools and determine what value they provide or if there’s a more efficient way.
Continuously Improving SOC Performance
Consistency means getting feedback from performance reviews and applying it to make improvements. Provide refresher training for new challenges as they come. That means testing and refining capabilities with drills, audits, and simulations. In doing so, you ensure your SOC will always be a formidable defense for your organization.
Conclusion
Measuring the effectiveness of your SOC security operations is a living approach that involves ongoing audit and improvement. Define your KPIs, take stock of your incident response time, make sure the threat intelligence your SOC is receiving is high quality, cut down on your false positives, and learn from past incidents.
Interested in learning how to improve your SOC? Check out the power of SOC security in defending your company from evolving cybersecurity threats.