Answer sheet csoc sample questions set 3

Cybersecurity threats are becoming more common, more dangerous, and more difficult to detect and mitigate. According to the Ponemon Institute’s 2021 Cost of Data Breaches study, organizations take 287 days on average to detect a breach, and more than a month to contain it. Companies of all sizes need a formal organizational structure that can
take responsibility for information security and create an efficient process for detection, mitigation and prevention.
This is where a security operations center (SOC) comes in. A SOC is traditionally a physical facility within an organization, which houses an information security team.
Thisteam analyzes and monitors the organization’s security systems. The SOC’s mission is to protect the company from security breaches by identifying, analyzing, and reacting to cybersecurity threats. SOC teams are composed of management, security analysts, and sometimes, security engineers. The SOC works with the company’s development and
IT operations teams. SOCs are a proven way to improve threat detection, decrease the likelihood of security breaches, and ensure an appropriate organizational response when incidents do occur. SOC teams isolate unusualactivity on servers, databases, networks, endpoints, applications, etc., identify security threats, investigate them, and react to
security incidents as they occur. Once upon a time, it was believed that a SOC was only suitable for large enterprises. Today, many smaller organizations are setting up lightweight SOCs, such as a hybrid SOC, which combines part-time, in-house staff withoutsourced experts, or a virtual SOC, which has no physical facility at all, and is a team of in-
house staff who also serve other functions. An organization must first define its security strategy and then provide a suitable infrastructure with which the SOC team willwork. The information system that underlies SOC activity is a security information and event management (SIEM) system, which collects logs and events from hundreds of security
tools and organizational systems, and generates actionable security alerts, to which the SOC team can analyze and respond. A SOC team has two core responsibilities: Maintaining security monitoring tools – The team must maintain and update tools regularly. Without the correct and most up-to-date tools, they can’t properly secure systems and
networks. Team members should maintain the tools used in every part of the security process. Investigate suspicious activities – The SOC team should investigate suspicious and malicious activity within the networks and systems. Generally, your SIEM or analytics software will issue alerts which the team then analyzes and examines, triages, and
discovers the extent of the threat. Here are some of the core processes SOC teams carry out: Alert triage – The SOC collects and correlates log data, and provides tools that allow analysts to review it and detect relevant security events. Alert prioritization – SOC analysts leverage their knowledge of the business environment and the threat landscape
to prioritize alerts and decide which events represent real security incidents. Remediation and recovery – Once an incident is discovered, SOC personnel are responsible for mitigating the threat, cleaning affected systems, and recovering them to their normal working condition. Postmortem and reporting – An important function of the SOC is to
document the organization’s response to an incident, perform additional forensic analysis to ensure that the threat has been fully contained, and learn from the incident to improve the SOC’s processes. A SOC can have several different functions within an organization, which can be combined. Below are SOC focus areas with the level of importance
assigned to each in the 2020 Exabeam State of the SOC Report. SOC Focus AreaLevel of Importance in USA SOCsControl and Digital Forensics — enforcing compliance, penetration testing, vulnerability testing55%Monitoring and Risk Management – capturing events from logs and security systems, identifying incidents, responding73%Network and
System Administration – administering security systems and processes such as identity and access management, key management, endpoint management, firewall administration, etc69% Theseare the common models for deploying a SOC within your organization: Dedicated SOCClassic SOC with dedicated facility, dedicated full-time staff, operated
fully in house, 24×7 operationsDistributed SOCSome full-time staff and some part-time, typically operates 8×5 in each regionMultifunctional SOC/NOCA dedicated facility with a dedicated team which performs both the functions of a Network Operations Center (NOC) and a SOCFusion SOCA traditional SOC combined with new functions such as
threat intelligence and operational technology (OT)Command SOC/Global SOCCoordinates other SOCs in a global enterprise, provides threat intelligence, situational awareness, and guidanceVirtual SOCNo dedicated facility, part-time team members, usually reactive and activated by a high-profile alert or security incident. The term Virtual SOC is
also sometimes used for an MSSP or managed SOC (see below).Managed SOC/MSSP/MDRMany organizations are turning to Managed Security Service Providers (MSSP) to provide SOC services on an outsourced basis. Modern offerings are called Managed Detection and Response (MDR). Managed SOCs can be outsourced completely or co-managed
with in-house security staff. Security analyst – The first to respond to incidents. Their response typically occurs in three stages: threat detection, threat investigation, and timely response. Security analysts should also ensure that the correct training is in place and that staff can implement policies and procedures. Security analysts work together with
internal IT staff and business administrators to communicate information about security limitations and develop documentation.Security engineer/architect – Maintains and suggests monitoring and analysis tools. They create a security architecture and work with developers to ensure that this architecture is part of the development cycle. A security
engineer may be a software or hardware specialist who pays particular attention to security aspects when designing information systems.

They develop tools and solutions that allow organizations to prevent and respond effectively to attacks.

They document procedures, requirements, and protocols.SOC manager – Manages the security operations team and reports to the CISO. They supervise the security team, provide technical guidance, and manage financial activities. The SOC manager oversees the activity of the SOC team, including hiring, training, and assessing staff.

Additional responsibilities include creating processes, assessing incident reports, and developing and implementing crisis communication plans. They write compliance reports, support the audit process, measure SOC performance metrics, and report on security operations to business leaders.CISO – Defines the security operations of the organization.
They communicate with management about security issues and oversee compliance tasks. The CISO has the final say on policies, strategies, and procedures relating to the organization’s cybersecurity. They also have a central role in compliance and risk management, and implement policies to meet specific security demands. Learn more in our
detailed SOC team guide. Incident response – SOCs operate around the clock to detect and respond to incidents. Threat intelligence and rapid analysis – SOCs use threat intelligence feeds and security tools to quickly identify threats and fully understand incidents, in order to enable appropriate response. Reduce cybersecurity costs – Although a SOC
represents a major expense, in the long run, it prevents the costs of ad hoc security measures and the damage caused by security breaches. Reduce the complexity of investigations – SOC teams can streamline their investigative efforts. The SOC can coordinate data and information from sources, such as network activity, security events, endpoint
activity, threat intelligence, and authorization. SOC teams have visibility into the network environment, so the SOC can simplify the tasks of drilling into logs and forensic information, for example. Increased volumes of security alerts – The growing number of security alerts requires a significant amount of an analyst’s time. Analysts may tend to tasks
from the mundane to the urgent when determining the accuracy of alerts. They could miss alerts as a result, which highlights the need for alert prioritization. Exabeam Advanced Analytics uses UEBA technology to provide security alert prioritization, which relies on the dynamic analysis of anomalous events. This ensures that analysts can find the
alerts requiring the most immediate attention. Management of many security tools – As various security suites are being used by SOCs and CSIRTs, it is hard to efficiently monitor all the data generated from multiple data points and sources. A SOC may use 20 or more technologies, which can be hard to keep track of and control individually. This
makes it important to have a central source and a single platform. A SIEM serves this function in most SOCs. For an example of a next-generation SIEM solution with advanced analytics and security automation, see the Exabeam Security Management Platform. Skills shortage – Short staffing or lack of qualified individuals is an issue. A key strategy
for dealing with the cybersecurity skills shortage is automating SOC processes, to save time for analysts. In addition, an organization may decide to outsource.Some organizations are now outsourcing to MSSPs to help them with their SOC services. Managed SOCs can be outsourced entirely or in partnership with on-premises security staff. Learn
about how security technologies are helping solve SOC challenges in our guide: The SOC, SIEM, and Other Essential SOC Tools Availability and hours – Will you staff your SOC 8×5 or 24×7?Format – Will you have a standalone SOC or an integrated SOC and NOC?Organization – Do you plan to control everything in house, or will you use an MSSP?
Priorities and capabilities – Is security the core concern, or is compliance a key issue? Is monitoring the main priority, or will you need capabilities such as ethical hacking or penetration testing?

Will you make extensive use of the cloud?Environment – Are you using a single on-premises environment or a hybrid environment? Ensure everyone understands what the SOC does – A SOC observes and checks endpoints and the organization’s network, and isolates and addresses possible security issues. Create a clear separation between the SOC
and the IT help desk. The help desk is for employee IT concerns, whereas the SOC is for security issues related to the entire organization.Provide infrastructure for your SOC – Without the appropriate tools, a SOC team will not be able to deal with a security threat. Evaluate and invest in tools and technologies that will support the effectiveness of the
SOC and are appropriate for the level of expertise of your in-house security team. See the next section for a list of tools commonly used in the modern SOC.Find the right people – Build a security team using the roles listed above: security analysts, security engineers, and a SOC manager. These specialists should receive ongoing training in areas such
as reverse engineering, intrusion detection, and malware anatomy. The SOC manager needs to have strong security expertise, management skills, and battle-tested crisis management experience.Have an incident response plan ready – An incident response team should create a specific and detailed action plan. The team can also create a repeatable
plan that can be used over time and adapt to different threat scenarios.

Business, PR, and legal teams may also be involved if needed. The team should adhere to predefined response protocols so they can build on their experience.Defend – A key responsibility of the SOC is to protect the perimeter with a dedicated team focused on detecting threats. The SOC’s goal is to collect as much data and context as possible,
prioritize incidents, and ensure the important ones are dealt with quickly and comprehensively. A SOC is an advanced stage in the maturity of an organization’s security. The following are drivers that typically push companies to take this step: Requirements of standards such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS),
government regulations, or client requirementsThe need for the business to secure very sensitive dataPast security breaches and/or public scrutinyType of organization — For example, a government agency or Fortune 500 company will almost always have the scale and threat profile that justifies a SOC, or even multiple SOCs. Different organizations
find themselves at different stages of developing their security stance. We define five stages of security maturity. In stages 4 and 5, an investment in a security operations center becomes relevant and worthwhile. The security operations center is undergoing an exciting transformation. It is integrating with ops and development departments, and is
empowered by powerful new technologies, while retaining its traditional command structure and roles to identify and respond to critical security incidents. We showed how SIEM is a foundational technology of the SOC, and how next-generation SIEMs, which include new capabilities like behavioral analytics, machine learning, and SOC automation,
open up new possibilities for security analysts. Reduce alert fatigue via user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) that goes beyond correlation rules, helps reduce false positives, and discover hidden threats.Improve MTTD by helping analysts discover incidents faster and gather all relevant data.Improve MTTR by integrating with security systems
and leveraging Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) technology.Enable threat hunting by giving analysts fast and easy access and powerful exploration of unlimited volumes of security data. Exabeam is an example of a next-generation SIEM which combines data lake technology, visibility into cloud infrastructure, behavioral
analytics, an automated incident responder, and a threat hunting module with powerful data querying and visualization. We have authored in-depth guides on several other information security topics that can also be useful as you explore the world of security operation centers. Together with our content partners, we have authored in-depth guides on
several other topics that can also be useful as you explore the world of information security. See top articles in our SIEM guide: Learn about MITRE ATT&CK, a security research project that is helping the security industry better understand techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) used by threat actors, detecting them, and responding to them
more effectively. Learn about next generation security information and event management (SIEM) systems that combine traditional SIEM functionality with use and entity behavioral analytics (UEBA), security orchestration and automation (SOAR), and other advanced security capabilities. 70%(10)70% found this document useful (10 votes)24K views1
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