How can you design a SOC to handle high volume security alerts?

Honestly, a stupid question. You SHOULD NOT have too many alerts. If you do, you are doing something very wrong... My answer refers to the question "How can you design a SOC to handle high volume security alerts?" over and out.

The question here needs to be reversed. Instead, the right question is “What can we do to ensure SOC is NOT handling high volume of alerts every day?”. Below are some answers: 1) You need better correlation of those alerts into incidents (so that you don't operate at each alert level). 2) You need engineers within SOC who can automate manual tasks to save time. 3) You need detection tuning engineers who can cut down the noise false/benign positives) regularly. 4) You need AI capabilities that can do the initial level of triage. Have human interaction only where required.

There is nothing better to move your SOC in the right direction than scoping what your main mission will be. If you don't know exactly what you are looking for, you will certainly have a large number of alerts, SOC team fatigue, and many other problems. How many SOCs out there have a well-written SOC charter, including clear mission and coverage area? Follow this list below to have a happy SOC: - Scope -> - Use Cases -> - Relevant data sources -> - Tools

Leverage #AI to squash the noise of cyber alerts. Check out how #AI can help. I am also here if you need guidance. As a former 20 year CISO I know a thing or two about alert fatigue. Cut the noise, get better sleep, I know I did.

You are overwhelming the SOC team. Alert fatigue. Fine tune your Usecases. Baseline, an Analyst in an 8 hour shift should not get more than 30 alerts

De nombreuses organisations commencent par acheter des produits avant de définir leur processus opérationnel. Je suggère d'abord de définir l'organisation et la gestion de l'opérationnel de son SOC, les services rendus puis ensuite choisir ses outils. Acheter des produits avant de savoir ce que l'on souhaite faire augmente les chances de faire des mauvais investissements.

Le choix des outils pour la construction de votre SOC est une étape importante qui permettra de garantir un fonctionnement optimal de votre service. Il faut déjà avoir défini son budget et être au fait des compétences réelles de ses analystes. On peut se diriger vers un SOC alliant uniquement des outils open source, afin de réduire les coût de licence par exemple. Attention néanmoins à la MCO/MCS de ces outils qui demande des connaissances précises. Des outils payant des leaders du marché peuvent vous aider à vous lancer plus rapidement, réduisant votre MCO/MCS. Il est important de bien définir son architecture de collecte (puits de log, format des logs, source etc.), le ou les SIEMs (il peut etre intéressant de travailler en multiSIEM).

Choosing your tools for your SOC is not a set-it-and-forget-it project. You need to set a cadence and process for reviewing the tools in your stack and adding to it or replacing tools that are no longer performing well. You also may want to consider whether you would prefer a best-in-bread approach or a best-in-class approach. That decision may be based on the size of your organization.

Selecting the right tools is critical for a SOC's capacity to manage high volumes of alerts. An advanced SIEM system, serving as the SOC's nerve center, should be capable of aggregating and correlating data across various sources to facilitate rapid threat detection and prioritization. Integration of advanced threat intelligence platforms can provide contextual information, aiding in more accurate alert qualification. The adoption of automation and orchestration tools is also vital, as they significantly reduce manual workloads and streamline response processes.

A SOC selects a SIEM platform with advanced correlation and analytics features, integrates threat intelligence feeds for real-time context, and deploys automated response tools to handle routine tasks, allowing analysts to focus on more complex threats. By defining clear goals and strategically choosing tools that align with those goals, organizations can design a SOC that effectively handles high volumes of security alerts. This approach enables a more efficient and proactive response to emerging threats within the cybersecurity landscape.

Assemble a skilled and diverse team with expertise in areas such as threat analysis, incident response, forensics, and penetration testing. Clearly define roles and responsibilities within the SOC team. Provide ongoing training to keep the team updated on the latest security trends and technologies.

Além de todo monitoramento e plataformas para coletar os logs, mas principalmente que tipo de informação precisamos de fato monitorar e realizar a triagem em cima daquilo que for de fato critico. ter uma equipe de Incident Handling que faça parte da estrutura do SOC, bem como o aumento de maturidade através de equipes consultivas que com frameworks irão atingir novos níveis de segurança

Assemble a skilled and diverse team with expertise in incident response, threat analysis, and system administration. Collaboration among team members is key to managing high volumes of alerts effectively.

Focus on developing a team that not only excels in technical skills but also in cross-functional abilities, fostering collaboration across different departments for a holistic security approach.

Assemble a skilled and diverse team with expertise in incident response, threat analysis, and system administration. Collaboration among team members is essential for the effective management of a high volume of alerts.

The key challenges created by high volumes of security alerts is handling high event load without either ‘over tuning’ or creating ‘alert overload/analyst burnout’, both of which severely impact the quality of the SOC and its ability to identify and respond to threats. Over tuning - SOC tunes too aggressively, meaning they become blindsided- and fail to spot attacks. Alert Overload – analysts don’t have enough time to investigate them properly, leading to poor analysis, bulk closing, etc. One key strategy to address this is automation of alert analysis. Mature SOCs can achieve >90% automated analysis that ensures full alert coverage whilst minimising and optimising ‘human analyst’ time.

Automated Threat Scoring: I can analyze alerts based on severity, context, and past incidents to prioritize and categorize them. This reduces human workload and directs attention to higher-risk issues. Machine Learning-powered Detection: I can learn from historical data and identify patterns to predict potentially malicious activity. This improves detection accuracy and reduces false positives.

It's essential to focus on the implementation and maintenance of detection rules. It's time to abandon SIEM "used-cases" such as the detection of internal network scans or bruteforce attempts on a website's admin interface. These rules generate a lot of noise for very little added value. Thanks to projects such as Sigma, it is now possible to set up much more relevant rules, which concern specific vulnerabilities on equipment/software owned by the company. SOC teams need to dedicate time to improving and maintaining detection rules, to avoid processing the same false positive over and over again, without correcting its origin.

The key elements should be to estimate your maturity level and finding the next step you need to improve performance. Every SOC is different and you need to see what is overwhelming your team. It could be: - Defining Criticality/Severity/Urgency on your alerts - Tuning your top-triggering rules to avoid False Positive and Legit behaviour - Standardization of first analysis to your alert - Automation of Enrichment and/or Response - Well defining the alert management process, from triggering to closing

Streamline incident response procedures to enhance efficiency. Regularly review and update workflows based on lessons learned from past incidents. Automation can be a powerful ally in handling routine tasks, allowing analysts to focus on more complex security issues.

Use sophisticated prioritization techniques that classify and rate threats using algorithms and machine learning to handle a large number of alerts in a security operations centre (SOC). Make use of a consolidated dashboard to view alerts in real-time. Automate repetitive processes using SOAR solutions so analysts may concentrate on more serious problems. Validate and revise these replies on a regular basis. Initiate a procedure for improving processes and analyzing system performance in order to continuously enhance the system. To keep the SOC flexible and successful in a changing security environment, encourage a culture of feedback to enhance training, revise response playbooks, and fine-tune alarm processing.

In order to ensure fast and efficient cyber triaging, it is important to ensure that all your systems talk to each other well, or to a central system which feeds alerts to your SOC team. Having a strong endpoint protection system in place, without having access to correlation data from your firewalls or NDRs can make your SOC team's critical alerts disparate and not allow them to see what's exactly going on, as a whole. Your view of the overall security posture, based on inputs from all your systems, has to be concise and clear. This can be achieved by having a SOC dashboard designed which has good integrations and strong AI capabilities which can help you make sense of all the noise, and thus help you zero in faster, on actions needed.

Ensure seamless integration between your SIEM, threat intelligence feeds, and other security tools. Facilitate collaboration between different security platforms and tools to maximize efficiency. Enforce standardized protocols for communication and data exchange between systems.

Foster interoperability among security tools and systems to create a unified defense mechanism. Seamless integration facilitates information sharing and enables a more holistic view of the security landscape, aiding in faster and more accurate threat detection.

Es sollte darauf geachtet werden, dass die Logquellen einer einheitlichen Logging Policy unterliegen, die eine kontinuierliche und vergleichbare Datenstruktur gewährleisten, um damit eine hohe Datenqualität zu erzielen.

Agile SOC is the new approach. Regular review and updates of your SOC design are critical in managing high volumes of security alerts. Continuous monitoring of the SOC's performance should be in place to ensure it meets the defined objectives. This includes adjusting thresholds for alerts, refining the rules in your tools, and updating response protocols as new threats emerge. Conduct regular training sessions for staff to keep up with the latest threat scenarios and response strategies. By maintaining an agile and adaptable SOC design, you can ensure that the organization is prepared to handle current and future security challenges.

Automated incident reviews: I can generate standardized reports after each incident, capturing key findings, lessons learned, and recommendations for improvement. This ensures valuable knowledge is collected and shared effectively. Team feedback surveys and debriefings: I can facilitate regular feedback sessions with the SOC team and stakeholders to gather insights and suggestions for improvement. This open communication loop promotes continuous learning and adaptation.

Conduct red team exercises periodically to simulate real-world attacks and test the responsiveness of your SOC. These exercises not only uncover potential vulnerabilities but also allow your team to refine incident response procedures, enhancing their ability to detect, analyze, and mitigate emerging threats effectively. By embracing a proactive and adaptive approach, your SOC can evolve into a resilient defense mechanism that stays ahead of the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape.

If you have a high volume of alerts, you are not appropriately automating. Humans should only need to take action on critical events or events where an automated decision cannot safely be made. Network scans or external attacks are not valuable to have humans review when a script can do it for you.

1. Set a policy that alerts must be 35-85% accurate. 2. Disable the noisy signatures. 3. Tune what remains. 4. ... 5. Find bad guys. The average alert accuracy is 0.5%. once you tune to 35% minimum accuracy it is like adding 10x to your staff. Volume is not the answer. Accuracy is. /2cents

This seems to me like a loaded question.. My attempt to answer, I am sure, will not begin to scratch the surface. I believe we should start with understanding the business needs, and what are the expectations of the business from the SOC team. You'd think it's simple as in securing the company... but in reality it's to which level you want the team and the processes to be mature. It's normal to have a high volume of alerts if you are monitoring multiple sources and have an adequate team size and tiers meant to handle the input. However, what's important is to aim for high confidence alerts - meaning the alerts that trigger are important for the business and require an action. As the rest, I believe they were covered in previous answers.

Learning from Machines: Leverage AI not just for detection and automation, but also for learning and adaptation. Use AI to analyze patterns in historical incidents and threat data to predict future attack vectors and refine your defenses accordingly. Ultimately, a truly effective SOC is not just about technical prowess, but about adaptability, collaboration, and human ingenuity. Let's build a security team that's not just reactive, but proactive, resilient, and always learning.

I think one of the solutions would be to begin with fine tuning the rules that trigger those alerts. Start by selecting top 10 rules with most alerts and fine tune to eliminate false positives. Over time you’ll start seeing better performance both from security tools and the analysts.