What’s better: SIEM vs SOC?
The world of cybersecurity is filled with acronyms, but two of the most prevalent are Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Operations Centre (SOC). They both provide organisations with a means to monitor their network environments and prevent potential data breaches, but they also have several key differences that you need to be aware of before opting to go with one versus the other for your business’s cybersecurity configuration.
To help you decide which option may be best suited to your organisation, we want to arm you with as much information as possible to ensure you’re informed and confident about your chosen cybersecurity solution. So let’s take a closer look at SIEM and SOC to see exactly how both of them work, what their distinct advantages are, and which one may ultimately be right for your organisation.
Understanding SIEM and SOC
A SIEM is an online platform that facilitates the collection, processing, and analysis of a wide range of security data from multiple different sources. It’s a vital tool in helping organisations detect vulnerabilities and threats, while also helping threat response.
A SOC, on the other hand, is a centralised facility dedicated to analysing, assessing, and managing every single aspect of an organisation’s cybersecurity operation. Interestingly, a SIEM may be one of the parts that make up a SOC.
SIEM vs. SOC:
One of the main advantages of a SIEM is that it produces and stores alerts based on the data it has collected. These alerts, however, will still need to be reviewed to determine the actual threat level. This is where a SIEM and a SOC can work together in harmony. The SIEM’s ability to analyse, organise, and log large amounts of data allows the SOC to work much more efficiently. While a SOC can certainly operate without a SIEM, as an organisation grows it will become increasingly difficult to continue to remain compliant with data standards without using a SIEM.
Considering this, integrating both a SOC and an SIEM has the potential to provide an extremely comprehensive and robust cybersecurity solution for any organisation. SOCs can benefit from the advanced organisation and data management provided by SIEMs, while SIEMs gain extra functionality such as gaining actionable insights into the alerts they generate from integration with a SOC.
SOC Benefits:
A dedicated SOC has a massive variety of advantages for any organisation, particularly when taking advantage of a fully managed SOC service. Your organisation will instantly gain access to an extremely advanced level of expertise while also saving significantly in terms of both time and costs when compared to building and managing a dedicated in-house cybersecurity team. You’ll benefit from aggregated threat intelligence from a huge variety of sources and can avail of 24/7 security protection and support.
Added to this, a SOC simply has more capabilities than an SIEM and may even have SIEM capabilities built in as part of the managed suite of services — we certainly offer this at DigitalXRAID.
SOC Drawback:
The biggest drawback of a SOC, if trying to manage it in-house, is the cost. Skilled cybersecurity professionals are at a premium currently, and this has made building a team both expensive and extremely difficult. Even if you can find the correct talent for your team, paying to ensure you have 24/7 analyst support from that talent will have a considerable impact on your company’s finances.
SIEM Benefits:
The benefits of investing in a managed SIEM solution are quite similar to those of a SOC, however, there are several key differences you should be aware of. Employing a managed SIEM will again help you reduce costs when compared to hiring an in-house team, however, it should be noted that a SIEM focuses on log and event data. While it can be very helpful in identifying patterns that can lead to threats, you’ll still need another system to handle the day-to-day monitoring and response to any incidents that a SOC offers.
A SIEM can also be easily scaled by either adding more hardware or by expanding the capacity of its existing infrastructure. This allows your SIEM solution to scale as your business grows. Again, however, you’ll need to consider that you’ll still need to scale resources to interpret the alerts generated by the SIEM.
You can also benefit from 24/7 monitoring, similar to a managed SOC.
Navigating the Decision-Making Process
To decide what solution will best suit your organisation’s needs, there are some key areas that you need to consider, but two in particular are likely to impact your decision the most:
Cost
The biggest consideration will likely be the cost. An in-house SIEM will likely be cheaper to set up initially, but you’ll still need to pay for licensing, network integration, and hardware costs. You’ll then also need to allow for maintenance costs, updates, and staffing to run the platform.
With an in-house SOC you’ll have to consider the cost of the required infrastructure, tools, and personnel costs. Following the initial setup you; ‘ll also have to cover maintenance, salaries, and continued training for your personnel.
Outsourcing to a managed service will drastically reduce your costs for both SOC & SIEM services by removing a lot of the ongoing costs, and eliminating the need to worry about updates, as they’ll be carried out by your provider.
Expertise
For both a SIEM and a SOC you’ll need to ensure that whoever you hire for your team has the requisite experience to be able to utilise the data they’re receiving correctly. Considering the current skill shortage in the cybersecurity industry, this could prove difficult — or at the very least costly.
Selecting a managed service would enable you to access top-level expertise without needing to source it yourself or worry about keeping it at your firm during an intensely competitive market for quality cybersecurity personnel.
Decision Impact on Cybersecurity Posture
The security solution you choose can have a significant impact on how your organisation approaches risk mitigation. For example, a SIEM will focus more on automated data analysis in an attempt to detect threats ahead of time. A SOC, while still being a proactive approach, relies on a more human-centric approach that will typically be more customised to your own needs.
Your service choice will also impact how your cybersecurity suite will inevitably scale. Both options align well with any long-term security goals. However, if your solution is contained in-house it will be notably harder to scale — particularly when it comes to staffing. This is why utilising a managed service is much more future-proof. Instead of burdening your organisation with scaling management, this will all be handled by experts instead.
Making the Right Choice
While there are a number of distinct similarities between an SIEM and a SOC, there are some key differences that you’re hopefully now more aware of as you look to decide what service may work best for your specific cybersecurity needs. If you’re still unsure though, get in touch with one of our experts here at DigitalXRAID.
We can offer your company tailored advice on what solution will ultimately work best for your specific needs. Our experts have been carefully selected for their integrity, dedication, and expertise so you can rest safe in the knowledge that they’re here to help you make the best decision to safeguard your business’s future. Schedule a consultation today, or take a look at some of our whitepapers to judge our expertise for yourself.
It’s vital that whatever solution you choose aligns with your organisation’s long-term business goals. Ensure that your chosen solution can scale and grow in line with your plan for the business. Cybersecurity has never been more important, so let us help you make the right choice when it comes to securing your business.
