Assessing the Challenges Faced by Security Operations Centres (SOC)

Cyber security threats are increasing rapidly, and due to this organisations are utilising Security Operations Centres(SOC) to monitor their network and to observe activities by collecting data about malicious events and behaviours. The main purpose of SOC is to defend organisations assets by spotting potential malicious activities. There are number of challenges that SOC team face on daily based. Hence, the question of this study is ‘What are the main challenges faced by SOC analysts and how their impact on organisations?’. This paper presents the outcome of interviews that have been carried out with SOC specialists in UK to understand the main challenges they face. The interviewed individuals are from different types and sizes of organisations. Hence, they have indicated various challenges when working with SOC. Skills shortages, False positives, Lack of automation, poor communication between SOC analysts and board level implications are the most highlighted difficulties amongst participants whilst working with SOC.