SOC, which stands for security operations center, is essential to any organization’s IT infrastructure. Today’s blog discusses the benefits of opting for SOC as a service in a higher ed institute.
Before we jump into the benefits of SOC as a service in Higher ed institutes, let us first look into what SOC is and its functions.
What is SOC?
SOC, as mentioned earlier, stands for security operations center, is a centralized process within an organization and makes use of people, processes, and technology to continuously monitor and improve an organization’s security posture while preventing, detecting, analyzing, and responding to cybersecurity incidents.
It acts as the hub or central command post, taking in telemetry across an organization’s IT infrastructure, including networks, devices, appliances, and information stores wherever those assets reside.
What are its functions?
Here are the five key functions performed by SOC.
Keeping track of available resources
The primary task at the security operations center is to protect the devices that the SOC can detect and keep track of. It is not possible for SOC to safeguard devices and data they can’t see. Without visibility and control from the device to the cloud, there are likely blind spots throughout the network security landscape that can be found and used. So, the SOCs aim to gain a complete view of the business’ threat landscape, including the various endpoints, servers and software on-premises, and third-party services and traffic flowing between these assets.
Prepare and Prevent
Accidents, mishaps, and attacks never give a warning, nor can you be too prepared. Even the most well-maintained and agile response processes sometimes fail to prevent problems from occurring in the first place.
Thus, to help keep attackers at bay, the SOC implements preventative measures.
Alert Ranking and Management
When monitoring tools installed at the SOC issue alerts, the SOC looks closely at each one, discards any false positives, and determines the maliciousness of the threats and possible targets. Doing so allows them to triage emerging threats appropriately, handling the most urgent issues first.
Threat Response
It is one of the most visible tasks performed by a SOC. The SOC acts as the first responder in case of an attack, performing actions like shutting down or isolating endpoints, ending harmful processes (or preventing their execution), removing files, and more. The aim is to respond to the extent necessary while having as small an impact on business.
Root Cause Investigation
After the threat has been adequately addressed, the SOC is responsible for figuring out its what, when, how, and why. The investigative process includes the SOC using log data and other information to trace the problem to its source to prevent similar issues.
With this brief understanding of SOC and some of its essential functions, let us try to understand the benefit of using SOC as a service in higher ed.
SOC as a service
SOC as a service means outsourcing your SOC responsibilities to a third party specializing in it and caters SOC as a service to multiple organizations.
Opting for SOC as a service, especially in a higher-ed institute, gives you the following advantages.
1. Cost-effective
Setting up your SOC means that you will have to invest in all the IT equipment, and employees with specialization will commit to your university to set up the SOC.
But when you opt for SOC as a service, it is more like a plug-and-play model. Just recruit a reliable SOC service provider, and they take care of the rest. You don’t have to purchase SOC equipment, commit campus space or employ professionals.
2. Easy upgrade-downgrade
Depending on technician specialization, available equipment, etc., the expertise of SOC services varies. If you have a SOC within your university, you will have to go through the entire process of upgrading every aspect to upgrade your SOC set up. Whereas in the case of SOC as a service, all you need to do is upgrade your plan, and your service provider takes the rest.
3. More efficient
SOC service providers usually cater to multiple clients; sometimes, IT attacks, malware, and other issues are common in several clients.
Thus, solving the issue for one client also helps them find the solution for other clients. Also, it serves as a repository of experience, helping them resolve similar problems in the future.
4. Better integration
Having SOC as a service, especially in the case of higher-ed institutes, is a very effective way of handling IT threats and issues. A SOC service provider who caters to higher-ed institutes mostly comes with rich experience and knowledge. Their ability to integrate their experiences from multiple institutes helps them stay more prepared and respond more efficiently and effectively to any IT-related incidents.
If you want to opt for SOC services or learn more about SOC services, contact us at contact@sanguineinformatics.com.
About Sanguine Informatics
Sanguine Informatics is one of the fastest growing managed IT and cloud services providers, assisting higher-ed institutions and businesses across many industry verticals by providing business continuity and high availability. Combining strategy, expertise, and creativity, our professionals help clients accelerate the operational, digital, and cultural transformation and enable the change they need to own their future by embracing diverse perspectives, encouraging new ideas, and challenging the status quo.
