NextGen SOCs: the key to cyber resilience

TAMER EL REFAEY, CHIEF CYBERSECURITY STRATEGIST, EMERGING MARKETS, MICRO FOCUS, TELLS SAME THAT WITH THE RIGHT TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES, NEXTGEN SOCS CAN HELP FILTER OUT ‘NOISE’ AND OVERCOME THE MAJOR CHALLENGES SURROUNDING CYBER SECURITY.

- TAMER EL REFAEY

Proper security visibility is the dream of every organization. Knowing if something malicious is stealthily taking place in the environment and stopping before it causes a business impact is the ultimate goal of every security investment. Next-generation (NextGen) SOC was used and sometimes overused by multiple technology providers to give their customers hope to achieve that dream. In other situations, other security technology providers questioned the existence of the SOC, altogether.

Organizations are left baffled whether a NextGen SOC is a viable option or not. Is it technology? Can we buy a NextGen SOC? Can we transfer an existing SOC into a NextGen SOC?

The Need for a NextGen SOC Today’s security operation centres face significant challenges that prevent them from achieving the goal they were built for. The top three of those challenges are:

1. Security visibility. According to statistics, 78% of chief information security officers (CISOs) are concerned about monitoring across a growing attack surface.

2. Alert fatigue. Around 75% of SOC professionals reported that they are suffering from a massive volume of security alerts.

3. Skill shortage. 62% of surveyed SOC managers complained about analysts’ availability and experience.

NextGen SOC promises to overcome these challenges by enhancing the ability to detect compromise attempts and gain insights that allow the analysts to navigate through the noise and focus on smaller high-fidelity alerts. Additionally, next-generation SOC is supposed to ensure resource optimization and efficiency.

Key Areas of a NextGen SOC