What Is Security Operations Center (SOC) Analyst?

Many industries have digitized their work processes and operations these days. This digitalization has caused different challenges and cyber threats are one of them. The total loss caused by this threat is anticipated to reach $10.29 trillion yearly by 2025. This is where the industries need a SOC analyst. But a question might arise in your mind- what is SOC analyst?

These are basically cybersecurity experts who are responsible for securing companies from cyber threats. They are offered competitive salaries due to their expertise, roles and responsibilities. This guide 'What is SOC analyst' explores each aspect of this job profession. It includes their roles, responsibilities, skills and salaries along with a guide to becoming one of them.

What is SOC Analyst?

A SOC analyst is an expert in cybersecurity. They work in the Security Operations Center (SOC) to secure sensitive information and networks in companies. Security operation centers are teams that are responsible for providing a secure environment. It will be an in-house department or an outsourced third party.

These teams generally involve network engineers, analysts and cybersecurity experts. There are many responsibilities for a SOC analyst. They monitor systems, evaluate potential threats and give efficient solutions to minimize future risks. These responsibilities have created a huge demand for SOC analysts among different industries. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has anticipated that this demand will rise exponentially between 2012 to 2032.

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SOC Analyst Roles and Responsibilities

Do you know what are the SOC analyst roles and responsibilities? It is important to understand these if you want to become one of them. This will give you an understanding of how they manage the security operations. The above section has mentioned some of them. Let's go through their roles and responsibilities to have a clear image of this profession -

1. Securing the Assets of Company

These analysts are responsible for securing the digital assets of a company. It is their primary responsibility as they contain sensitive information like customer data, employee data, passwords, IDs and financial information. In case of any breach in the assets of a company can result in high losses for them.

2. System Monitoring

These experts monitor the entire infrastructure of the system to verify its security. This is how they detect security gaps, check for necessary patches and update them when required. These practices protect the system from malicious activities caused by hackers or unauthorized users. They manage systems to access and detect suspicious activity through this process.

3. Analyzing Data Breaches and Performing Security Assessments

Security analysts are also responsible for conducting assessments that include performing vulnerability testing. This approach runs risk analysis and identifies weak areas of the system. They spot weaknesses in software, hardware, network and any infrastructure that will be exploited by hackers. Vulnerability testing includes the following 8 steps -

• Detecting all the assets that require protection from malicious activities.

• Conducting a full assessment of all potential risks that will impact the assets.

• Evaluating every vulnerability type to find out their risk level to the company and prioritizing them accordingly.

• Developing a combination of security protocols to mitigate the identified risk. This includes integrating security software and increasing physical security.

• Documenting the results of risk assessment including all assets, threats, risks and security protocols.

• Developing a detailed plan to counter each identified vulnerability and risk.

• Implementing the security protocol by identifying them from the prepared documentation.

• Monitoring the efficiency of the remediation method and evaluating security metrics for adjusting ongoing protection of assets.

4. Collaborating with third-party vendors

Collaboration with third-party vendors is also one of their responsibilities. They collaborate with them to build security measures. This is important as vendors could risk the security of a company if they are not following the security standards. This is why security analysts work collaboratively with them to maintain these standards.

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Top SOC Analyst Skills

Individuals must develop some cybersecurity and technology skills to become SOC analysts. They have to be equipped with the abilities to work in a team. Technical skills show the practical aspects of a security operations center analyst role. Workplace skills assist to improve the productivity of these experts in a work environment. Below are some of the top SOC analyst skills -

• Network Defenders

These experts are capable of defending the network from cyber threats in a company. They monitor, evaluate and detect any possible risk that can harm the network. Hackers mostly use the Internet to perform malicious activities. This is why network security skills are a must for this profession.

• Ethical Hacking

Security operations center analysts should have knowledge of Ethical Hacking. It is required to detect upcoming threats and vulnerabilities to maintain the security of a company. It involves understanding penetration testing that gives them system, network and web application access to discover vulnerabilities.

• Response to Incidents

It is one of the most important skills to have for these experts. They can manage different effects of security breaches by reducing their impact and suggesting changes in the security protocols. These practices prevent the enterprise from potential security breaches.

• Computer Forensics

A security operations center analyst should have knowledge of computer forensics. This successfully removes any form of cybercrime in an organization. They will be capable of accumulating, evaluating and reporting security information with this skill.

• Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering is another skill required to become an expert in this field. One must be able to understand and evaluate the performance of a given software program. This is how they can patch a bug if any.

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How to Become a SOC Analyst?

Understanding how to become a SOC analyst is our next point of discussion. It is both a challenging and exciting process that involves many considerations. Individuals have to learn and practice all the required skills to solve problems, collect information and make plannings based on your data. They also have to complete the education criteria of this profession. Start your preparation with the following steps -

Step 1. Get a Relevant Degree

There are no necessary requirements for qualification for this profession. However individuals can pursue a bachelor in computer science or any other related field. This will be helpful in achieving career height with impressive salaries as experts with these qualifications are preferred over others. They also get familiarized with many terms like data analysis, cybersecurity and more while pursuing these degrees.

Step 2. Build Strong Fundamentals Knowledge

The first step to becoming a security operations center analyst is to build strong foundation knowledge. This involves getting familiar with how computers work and interact with each other. It requires an understanding of computer networking and basic programming languages. It is also important to get a solid understanding of cryptography and data related practices like hashing and encryption.

Step 3. Join Online Course

Building fundamental knowledge is an easy process as there are many free tutorials available for this purpose. The challenges come when individuals move to more advanced concepts and practices. This requires proper guidance from experts. This is why you should join an online course or tutorial program. These courses are led by top experienced industry experts and will give you complete knowledge of SOC.

Step 4. Work on Projects

Online courses will equip you with all the theoretical knowledge. The next step is to learn the implementation of this theoretical knowledge to solve real problems. There are many ways to get this type of experience. You can work on dummy projects or be part of any freelancing projects. This will not only train you to implement your knowledge but also improve your portfolio.

Step 5. Pursue an Internship

Getting an internship is the next step after getting some experience from working on live projects. It is a great approach to build experience with security monitoring tools and learn more about the field. Many companies host internship programs for these experts. You can find them on any job portal or social media advertisements. Pursuing an internship will sharpen your skills in this field.

Step 6. Join Online Communities

The cyber threats are increasing continuously with the advancement in the technologies. Hackers are continuously finding new methods to harm companies in many ways. This is why security operations center analysts should be updated with the latest threats and technology updates. Online communities are the best way to achieve this goal. Here people from the same field share their expertise and knowledge.

Step 7. Build Your Network

Building a network is very important when you are looking to start working as a professional. There are many platforms where you can find the latest job requirements. Online communities, social media and job portals are the best options in this instance. Platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoors have easy interfaces where you can easily apply for a job.

Related Article- Cyber Security Career Paths For Beginners

SOC Analyst Certification

There are many certifications out there for SOC analysts. One can go for any of them. These certifications are mostly recognized world wide. Most of the companies and enterprises prefer certified experts as their employees. They usually offer impressive salary packages for their validated expertise. Here are some of the credentials one can go for -

• CompTIA Security+

CompTIA Security+ is an entry level cybersecurity certification. It will be the best option for those who want to get started in the cybersecurity field. This credential covers different concepts including cryptography, security access control and risk analysis of cloud computing. This credential can get you a step at the door of many companies in this field.

• CompTIA CySA+

CompTIA CySA+ certification is focused on application and server security. It covers many topics like vulnerability assessment, penetration testing and customization of firewalls, and proxies. This will be an excellent certification for those who want to be certified in IT security or management. It will validate the holder's skills in these areas.

• Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) by EC-Council

The CSA certification from the EC-Council is also an excellent option for these experts. This validates the specialization of holders in incident response and threat hunting. The CSA designation needs demonstrated knowledge and experience. This credential is endorsed by the National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. Federal Government and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS).

• SOC Analyst Salary

Security operations center analysts are among the highest paid cybersecurity experts in the world. The average salary for these experts in the United States is $51,587 per year. The majority of them earn between $31,000 and $57,000 per year and the top earners get around $90,500 per annum.

The average salary of SOC analysts in India is approximately INR 4.8 LPA. Their total estimated earning is around INR 5.4 LPA per annum. This salary ranges between INR 3 LPA and INR 8.8 LPA for experts with at least 1 to 5 years of experience.

Wrapping Up 'What is SOC Analyst'

This blog has given a complete understanding about what is SOC analyst and how to become one of them. It has also discussed their skills and salaries along with the certification they should obtain. Follow this guide and join an online course to become a security operations center analyst. This will assist you to land your dream job. Get started today.

FAQs on 'What is SOC Analyst'

Q1. What is SOC analyst salary?

The estimated salary of a SOC analyst is around INR 5.4 LPA per annum with an average salary of INR 4.8 LPA in India. They get a $51,587 per year salary in the USA.

Q2. Does SOC analyst require coding?

There is no strict requirement for coding skills but fundamental knowledge will be an advantage for them. This role usually relies on different software and technology to find threats. This means it will be a great job for individuals without a coding background.

Q3. What is the role of a SOC analyst?

Their ultimate role is to secure the systems of a company from different types of cyber threats. They further have different roles and responsibilities within a company including monitoring the systems, auditing them to find potential risks and building solutions to mitigate them.

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