FEATURE
TO BUILD OR NOT TO BUILD? THE INCREASING NEED FOR DETECTION AND RESPONSE IN A MENACING THREAT LANDSCAPE IS DRIVING THE DEMAND FOR SOC AS A SERVICE. HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO CHOOSE A SPECIALIST PROVIDER IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO BUILD ONE.
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he growing complexity of cybersecurity often outpaces the capabilities of many organisations in the Middle East. This is especially true in the case of the Security Operations Centre (SOC), which comprises analysts and security pros working as a team to monitor and combat threats. The lack of skills has made it difficult for organisations to develop cyber capabilities in-house, and CISOs are now forced to look for third parties to plug these security gaps. To address this demand, many traditional managed security services providers have now 18
CXO INSIGHT ME
MAY 2020
started offering SOC as a service (SOCaaS) to monitor IT infrastructure and remediate threats proactively. According to Deloitte’s 2019 future of cyber survey, security operations top the list of cyber functions outsourced, followed by vulnerability management, physical security, and training and awareness. During these times, when remote work has introduced new security operational challenges, every company, regardless of its size, needs the advanced capabilities offered by SOCs, but most companies can’t afford to build it from scratch. This is where SOC as a service providers step in.
“In today’s constantly changing threat landscape scenario, security is not a one-time job. It is about taking care of the least probable and that is a constant journey. It needs 24x7 monitoring, proactive detection and on-time incident response to neutralise threats to avoid further damages. Security Operation Centres are responsible for 24x7 monitoring, detection and response so that security becomes an important DNA of an organisation,” says Ajay Nawani, Head Sales Engineering, MEA, Sophos. Ahmed Alketbi, Chief Information Security Officer, Moro Hub, adds: “SOCaaS is gaining traction owing to