They play a special role in strategic sectors, where the security of IT systems translates directly into operational stability and compliance with regulations resulting from domestic and EU regulations.
Security Operations Center (SOC) is created by a team of experts conducting constant supervision over the organization’s IT environment. Their main The task is to monitor and respond to incidents related to information security. The services provided by SOC include Network monitoring, threat detection, reacting to incidents and reporting their course. In the era of universal digital transformation of companies, they are an important element of creating the organization’s resistance to cyber thread.
Critical infrastructure and new regulatory challenges
SOC plays a particularly important role in sectors related to critical infrastructure, and thus the most vulnerable to cyber attacks. These are areas such as energy, transport, health care, finance and public administration. What’s more, with the entry into force of the NIS2 Directive, the obligations related to ensuring an adequate level of cyber security in these sectors have significantly expanded. For many entities, this means the need to implement permanent monitoring, threat analysis and quick response to incidents. In this context, organizations face the choice – build their own local SoC or use services, i.e. virtual SOC. The latter offer flexibility, faster implementation time and lower costs, but in some cases – especially in the public and defense sectors – having your own SOC can be the only acceptable solution.
Innovative approach to network protection
In their functioning, Security Operations Centers use modern technologies. Artificial intelligence and automation of processes accelerate data analysis, reduce response time and allow you to predict incidents before they even happen. Tools such as Netflow, enabling the analysis of information flow in networks, are today the basis of the work of SOC analysts working in mature organizations under the category. Thanks to them, you can detect unauthorized traffic, network anomalies or suspicious communication patterns. In turn, the use of such solutions as SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation and Response) makes it Many events are solved almost without human participation.
The experience of institutions related to the army, as well as applications from reports such as “Road to Cybersecurity” developed by Deloitte indicate that he remains the most important element in man – both in making decisions and in the assessment of the context of events.
However, there are already situations in which artificial intelligence plays the first violin. For example, scripts with malware written by AI and a phishing campaign bought as AI service are stopped by the first SOC line programmed correctly using artificial intelligence.
Digital attacks and the physical world – monitoring of industrial systems
Contemporary cyber threads are increasingly affecting reality outside the virtual world. For example, OT (Operational Technology) systems that control industrial devices are increasingly operated via the Internet, which increases their susceptibility to cyber attacks. For SOC, this means the need to monitor not only IT networks, but also supported by infrastructure elements through it – from barriers, through lighting control programs to cooling systems in the food industry. For example, remote blocking of elevators or raising the temperature in cold stores can result in serious financial losses and a health risk. Real -time monitoring Therefore, it becomes not only a matter of data protection, but also the operating security of companies.
The future of SoC – more automation?
The upcoming years will bring further automation of processes in implemented by the Security Operations Center. Already today some analysts are afraid that excessive faith in AI and automation can lead to errors that will not be captured in time. Although the awareness of cyber security is growing in Poland, there are still many system elements – especially in the protection of critical infrastructure.
In this context, the need to create a nationwide Netflow system, collecting and analyzing data from various sectors, which could significantly improve the coordination of activities and accelerate the process of responding to danger. The digital security of the state is today not only the domain of the army or special servicesbut the joint effort of administration, business and the education sector.
So the SoC of the future must be not only technologically advanced, wisely automated, but also strongly embedded in the realities of inter -sectoral cooperation and, most importantly, managed by educated staff.
Cyber & Defense Sector Director, Deloitte
