Cybercriminals don’t work nine to five, and neither should your cyber threat protection. Threat actors stay nimble, adapting tactics to get past hardware and software-based solutions and continually testing systems to find businesses and organizations they can exploit.
The costs of data breaches are astronomical. In 2021, data breach costs rose from USD 3.86 million to USD 4.24 million, the highest average total cost in 17-years. Part of this rising cost is due to the increased damage that threat actors inflict. Triple extortion is on the rise. In this type of attack, cybercriminals encrypt and steal data while threatening to engage in a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against the affected organization. Organizations are held hostage by two kinds of malicious attacks—often simultaneously—and then are further victimized by the theft and leak of data. The attacker may also target the business’s extended partners and suppliers, creating a cascading effect that devastates its reputation and cripples the targeted firm and its partners. These attacks can disrupt entire sectors and supply chains.
These new tactics are highly effective and can shut down a business, sometimes permanently, when the extortion, costs to mitigate, and loss of reputation become insurmountable.
The rise of remote work has also increased risk. Employees access data from multiple devices and work from many locations. Many organizations have a patchwork of solutions that do not talk to each other. The average business uses more than five different security tools to manage security, all siloed. These factors increase risk. Without a centralized command center to aggregate and assess threats and events, cybercriminals can conduct coordinated attacks that fly just below the radar. When your business discovers the breach, extensive damage has already been done.
As the threat and impact of cyberattacks increase, many businesses are implementing Security Operations Centers (SOC).
What is a Security Operations Center?
Security Operations Centers (SOCs) are the premier tier of protection for your business. SOCs augment technology-based protections by serving as the command hub and providing comprehensive round-the-clock monitoring and defense. They harness the collective power of technology, processes, and people to aggregate, detect, analyze, and respond to cybersecurity threats.
A SOC team is comprised of highly skilled security analysts and engineers who have the skills and expertise to support and manage the myriad of measures that safeguards your data and your business. The team oversees data in endpoints, the network infrastructure, and the cloud. All activities, events, and incidents are aggregated, parsed, and analyzed so that intrusions and threats do not slip by undetected. A SOC must analyze your business systems and software, including Windows, MAC/OS, Office 365, cloud applications, and email.
Not only does the SOC team analyze the real-time data, but they also understand the behaviors of cybercriminals. This understanding allows your business to be ahead of the cybercriminals and cyber terrorists who continually adapt to security measures to disrupt your business for financial or political advantage.
The protection a SOC provides is about more than mitigation; it is about preventing attacks in the first place.
Benefits of a Security Operations Center Include:
- 24/7/365 monitoring to detect threats in real-time.
- SOCs reduce the likelihood of a successful attack by blocking cybercriminals early on in their exploration of vulnerable systems.
- Rapid incident response. Every second counts. Addressing breach attempts rapidly reduces costs of mitigation and impact on operations.
- A team of highly skilled IT professionals helps your business stay one step ahead of ever-evolving strategies and tactics with real-time trending and data analytics
- Through comprehensive oversight of your complete system, silos are eliminated.
Why Should Your Business Consider a SOC?
No business is shielded from becoming a victim. Cybercrime continues to be a signiciant risk with the power to shutter business. Cybercrime targets assets essential to your business that often don’t show up on your business’s balance sheet: the value of your data and the value of your reputation. The loss of either can be insurmountable to businesses.
With their 30,000-foot-view of your security infrastructure and highly trained analysts, Security Operation Centers are your company’s best protection.
Contact Us Today
While in-house Security Operation Centers are cost-prohibitive for small and medium-sized businesses, outsourcing provides 24-7-365 coverage at a price within reach. Atruent offers full-service Security Operations Center services that are customizable to meet your business’s needs. We’ll ensure your systems, including critical customer and operational data, are protected from malicious intent. Contact us today to find out how we can help you stop cybercriminals in their tracks.