Why Customers Love ExeonTrace (as a Managed Solution)

Being able to respond at any time: The 8 benefits of NDR in a managed SOC model

More and more organizations are choosing managed services solutions for their cybersecurity. A managed security service provider offers outsourced monitoring and management of security systems, and the managed SOC consists of people, processes and technologies that receive and analyze users, reports and data from information systems and cybersecurity tools. The primary goal of the SOC is to identify, prioritize and react to cybersecurity issues in a highly effective and efficient manner.

A managed security service provider operates a cyber defense/security operations center that monitors customer systems and responds to incidents around the clock. SOC staff and technologies operate year-round, 24/7, and work with standard procedures, use cases and playbooks to define how to communicate about various cybersecurity events and incidents. A managed SOC provides a variety of benefits to organizations:

1. Cost Savings

A managed SOC is an efficient way to leverage highly skilled security services without having to bear the cost of building and maintaining your own infrastructure. Instead of spending money for capital expenditures such as purchasing SOC tools, managed security services provide much more cost flexibility. Furthermore, in-house cyber security specialists are often hard to find...

2. 24/7 Security Monitoring

The SOC service provider takes full responsibility for security operations with 24/7/365 services. They monitor the network, log activities, and use the right tools and expert experience to identify, analyze, and resolve any security issues that arise.

3. Automation

Managed SOCs provide organizations with the necessary tools and expertise to help them manage their risks. Automated processes in a managed SOC help streamline incident response, increase efficiency, and quickly identify and appropriately respond to threats. Orchestrating operations through a managed SOC helps streamline tasks, people, and tools to improve the overall incident response process.

4. Proactivity

By continuously monitoring suspicious activity, SOC teams can proactively create policies to prevent future attacks. Proactive strategies include real-time event monitoring and response, regular vulnerability scanning, and identification of potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited.

5. Compliance

A managed SOC helps ensure that organizations adhere to their industry regulations and data protection requirements to avoid fines and legal repercussions. SOC teams enforce policies by ensuring, for example, that users follow best practices for cybersecurity, data and account access controls. Long-term analysis of data feeds and incident data and the storage of security logs and vulnerability management can ensure regulatory reporting for GDPR, NIS2 or DORA regulations.

6. Focus on Core Business

IT staff can better focus on day-to-day operations and mitigate verified cyber threats when security operations are outsourced, rather than spending time and resources identifying cyber risks and threats, which are often very complex and time-consuming.

7. Scalability

SOC as a Service can also be easily adapted and scaled to the specific circumstances of the business (e.g., growth, internationalization), new compliance requirements and for the current and future security situation.

8. Zero Trust

In running a Zero Trust strategy with the need to coordinate policies, network traffic and management, a managed SOC can be the place where everything "comes together".

Why should Network Detection and Response (NDR) be integrated in a Managed SOC?

Along with the benefits described above, those are the main benefits of specialized managed NDR providers:

• Faster threat detection and response: NDR tools in a managed SOC enable faster detection of cyber threats. Network traffic anomalies and suspicious activity can be identified more efficiently, resulting in better detection of attack activity (ransomware, supply chain attacks, zero-day exploits, and other APTs), faster responses, and automatable countermeasures. With NDR, all devices on the IT, IoT and OT network can be monitored in real-time, providing immediate visibility of all activity based on log data.
• Prioritization: A managed SOC with NDR sends threat alerts only when they are truly important, while an internally or externally managed SIEM solution generates an overwhelming number of alerts, making it nearly impossible to process all of them.
• Higher quality and faster responses: Continuously monitoring network traffic, detecting any deviations from the norm and immediately reacting on them shortens the response times to cyber threats. NDR's machine learning, its focus on security issues, and its algorithms enable the SOC to quickly respond to incidents and take countermeasures, be it automated incident triage, threat intelligence enrichment or response orchestration.

What should companies expect from their managed SOC provider?

Proactive threat detection and rapid incident response are compulsory requirements for a managed SOC provider. However, there are more points a company should consider before starting with an external service provider, encompassing the following points:

• Constant accessibility and effective communication: The provider must guarantee 24/7 support throughout the year, leveraging multiple communication channels. They should have a proven track record of promptly escalating significant events and incidents to relevant customer personnel.
• Certified professionals: The staff of a SOC service provider must hold certifications relevant to the cybersecurity technologies they are overseeing or managing for your organization and be able to advise on cyber security management topics.
• Certified operations: The SOC should operate within certified parameters, ensuring it adheres to the highest standards of security and compliance.
• Seamless integration: SOC services should seamlessly integrate within the organization's existing security incident response framework.
• Regular reporting: Companies should expect consistent and detailed reports that offer insights into the security posture, threats detected, and actions taken.

SOC service providers have proven to be a strong asset for companies to harden their own security strategy and make it more effective. We are happy to work with some of the leading managed SOC providers in the market. Please contact us if you want us to help you find the perfect match for your needs.