Managed Service Providers (MSPs) need to leverage cyber tools and technology to help them protect both their clients and themselves from cyber attacks. A SOCaaS solution offers a unified solution that negates the need for MSPs to implement and manage disparate tools and monitor output 24/7.
Why should MSPs have responsive cybersecurity solutions in place for their clients?
Research shows that security threats are becoming more sophisticated and persistent by the day. Stats reveal that about 560,000 new pieces of malware are detected daily on the internet. Also, cyber attacks rose by 71% as of the first quarter of 2023.
It’s therefore paramount for MSPs to have innovative solutions in place to help them monitor, detect, and respond to threats with efficiency and agility.
Building your own Security Operations Center (SOC) in-house can be one option for containing unrelenting threats, but it can get overwhelming for teams already stretched to capacity and very difficult to find staff with the security right skill set.
That’s not all:
Maintaining a SOC is extremely costly in terms of infrastructure and payroll.
This is where SOCaaS comes in. It provides an effective and scalable alternative solution to building an in-house SOC solution.
Read on to see what SOCaaS is and how it can benefit you as an MSP.
What is SOCaaS?
SOCaaS stands for Security Operations Center as a Service. It is a subscription-based SOC service that provides high-end tools such as next-gen SIEM and Vulnerability Management to MSPs and MSSPs along with 24/7 monitoring and escalation.
Many SOCaaS services include the following:
- Threat monitoring
- Intrusion detection
- Incident response
- SIEM
- 24/7/365 monitoring
More extensive SOCaaS services such as inSOC‘s One Stop SOC include a next-gen Open-XDR SIEM tool and weekly vulnerability management with extensive reporting.
Now, let’s explore why SOCaaS can be a profitable addition to your managed services offering.
The benefits of SOCaaS for MSPs
Managed SOC as a Service provides numerous advantages to MSPs, and here are some:
Real-time Intrusion Detection
As mentioned earlier, cybercriminals are launching sophisticated cyberattacks at an ever increasing frequency. In addition, many businesses now have remote workforces, and a vast majority are increasingly using the cloud, which is prone to attack vectors.
Round-the-clock monitoring is therefore vital. This can, however, be challenging for MSPs.
SOCaaS providers such as inSOC use a modern next-generation SIEM platform and implement weekly vulnerability management, which helps MSPs to stay ahead of hackers.
Affordable tools with increased functionality
An MSP must have up-to-date cybersecurity toolsets to provide cutting-edge service to its clients. However, acquiring the latest SOCaaS security tools can be challenging, as they don’t come cheap.
One of the best things about SOC as a Service for MSPs is that it gives access to the latest tools, processes and services as part of one monthly subscription fee, eliminating operational and capital expenses.
SOCaaS capabilities from inSOC include:
- Open-XDR next-gen SIEM
- Weekly vulnerability management
- Threat intelligence
- Asset management
- Adherence to the NIST 800 CF and CIS Critical Security Controls
- C-Level and technical reporting
Native support
Proper threat detection heavily relies on the quality of your data. SOCaaS from inSOC uses a data source agnostic model and leverages Open-XDR, essential for providing native support for the widest landscape of data sources.
This, in turn, improves the quality and breadth of threat detection. It also reduces the amount of time that it takes to monitor and respond to threats, including stealth ones that may stay hidden in your system without detection.
Strong analytics
Without robust analytics, you can’t optimize your solutions for better performance.
The cutting-edge SIEM technology used in many SOCaaS offerings uses data automation and AI for threat detection and intelligence. It also uses threat intelligence to limit the number of false positives, meaning that only critical alerts are escalated, eliminating white noise from false positives.
Faster deployment
SOCaaS doesn’t take as long as in-house SOC to deploy. If you’ve worked with the latter, then you must know how time-consuming it can be to develop the solutions and expertise to maturity. It can take a year or longer to configure and fully implement.
SOCaaS already has a solution stack and human resources, hence offering accelerated deployment. It also means you get access to a broader talent pool globally.
All the above allows you to limit the likelihood of breaches occurring, detect and respond to threats quickly, limiting the damage they are capable of causing. You also save on costs because the more extensive the damage (after a delayed response), the more expensive it is to rectify.
Access to additional expertise
An additional layer of security skills is crucial in today’s ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape. One of the biggest challenges with providing any cybersecurity services is finding the right talent mainly due to high costs and labor gaps.
RedQor’s staff augmentation service offers MSPs the ability to add an additional layer of cybersecurity resources over and above inSOC’s standard SOC, offering. For example, MSPs often choose to add an in-house CISSP or an additional layer of SOC analysts to handle remediation and strengthen client service delivery.
Examples of specialized cybersecurity personnel that RedQor can provide as an additional layer are:
- CISSP
- SOC Analyst
- vCISO
- Risk assessor
The above skill sets can be both difficult to find and expensive to retain in-house. Combining both the SOCaaS capabilities of inSOC and the additional technical resources available through RedQor’s Talent Acquisition gives MSPs a unique advantage in the market.
If this sounds like something your MSP could benefit from, book a call with RedQor today.