The Security Operations Centre Consulting report from ALM Intelligence predicts that the market for SOCs will have ballooned from $3.96bn in 2014 to $4.34bn by the end of this year, before swelling further to $4.83bn by 2018. As interest grows, ALM predicts that there will be a growing space for consultancy firms to help organisations and their lawyers develop their SOC strategies and capabilities in line with increasingly complex risk profiles.
From compliance to cohesion
With major cybersecurity events embroiling a growing number of companies, particularly in finance and retail, many companies are looking to push beyond compliance and create an integrated SOC function. ‘SOC-like capabilities developed solely to fulfill compliance requirements create an illusion of security,’ warns ALM senior analyst for IT consulting research Erin Hichman, adding that that many ‘if not all’ of the most recent major cybersecurity breaches occurred at companies which met compliance standards with regards to data security.
The next level
By contrast, an integrated SOC is a step up from passive detection technologies in that it can actively predict threats and take a strategic approach to managing incidents. ‘It includes well developed playbooks, processes, procedures and roles, so when something does happen there is no question who should be involved and what they should do,’ Ms Hichman told Legal Tech News. An SOC also has access to the Achilles heel of most traditional or automated approaches to cybersecurity – the human threat from within organisations. ‘A major aspect of SOC development or investment that consulting firms do is defining roles, training, education and creating and documenting processes in order to reduce the chance of unintentional insider threats and to empower employees to act if they see or suspect something fishy,’ said Ms Hichman.
ALM Intelligence’s full report on the growth of SOC consulting can be found here.
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