With 43% of UK organisations experiencing a cyber-attack in 2024, it’s not surprising most businesses don’t have the internal resources to manage cybersecurity safely.

Organisations often don’t have the manpower to handle the surge in threats, alerts and attacks they face daily, so outsourcing to service providers is often the safest option, especially when it comes to managing a labour-intensive, but highly critical, Security Operations Centre (SOC).

SOCs are one of the most important functions of an organisation’s security defences, but they are also a heavy drain on resources. Their analysts investigate and act upon hundreds of alerts every day, while they work tirelessly to reduce risks, and identify and mitigate threats before they escalate.

This means they are required to operate 24/7, 365 days a year. But when thinking about a typical mid-sized enterprise, very few have the bandwidth to manage this task.

Furthermore, with SOC analysts at the coal-face of threat activity, they have expert knowledge of today’s attack landscape. They also understand every vulnerability and threat actor tactic, so they have the knowledge and technical depth to keep threat actors out of networks and implement defences to protect against adversaries.

But, considering the digital skills shortage, this type of expertise is also extremely hard to come by for the average enterprise.

As a result, many organisations find it is more efficient to outsource the function to SOC-as-a-Service providers.

These SOC-as-a-Service providers are experts in the field of cyber defence, which allows organisations to take advantage of their expertise, without draining resources, but being confident security operations is being covered 24/7, 365 days a year.

However, given that SOCs are first in line of an organisation’s defences, finding a provider that has the competence to meet today’s cyber challenges is essential.

So, what are the top features organisations must look for in a SOC-as-a-Service provider?

24/7 + 365 days coverage

Cybercriminals don’t work part-time, so security operations can’t either. This means the SOC must operate 24/7, 365 so analysts can be alerted to issues in real-time, allowing them to be investigated before they escalate into breaches. The SOC-as-a-Service provider must offer always-on coverage, and this must be agreed before contracts are signed.

Support with AI

While AI should never replace the critical work of analysts, it can significantly enhance their capabilities.

By integrating AI into the triage process, analysts can more quickly identify, prioritise and qualify potential incidents, resulting in reduced mean time to respond (MTTR).

AI-driven tools also strengthen detection capabilities by flagging suspicious activity that might not be captured by traditional correlation rules or signature-based systems. This provides a more comprehensive view of an organisation’s environment and helps reduce analyst fatigue.

By leveraging AI to handle repetitive or time-consuming tasks, analysts can maintain productivity while focusing on higher-value activities such as threat hunting, tuning and baselining, or conducting attack simulations to validate the effectiveness of security controls.

Tooling

Compatibility with an organisation’s technology architecture and existing security tools is essential. This will allow the SOC to get up and running quickly without the need to rebuild systems and train in-house employees on new appliances and technology. The tooling must also be best-of-breed and capable of detecting advanced malware and threats as they continue to evolve.

Recommended reading

• Report: Supply Chain Attacks a ‘Daily Reality’ As Vendor Security Lags
• Chief Supply Chain Officers: Overly Confident or Undervalued?
• Less Than A Quarter of Supply Chain Leaders Have An AI Strategy
• New Report Reveals Extent of Cyber-risk in Global Supply Chain

Collaborative approach

Even when outsourcing, an organisation must always know what is happening within its cybersecurity. Has threat activity increased? Are any employees deemed a risk? The outsourced SOC must collaborate and communicate with the organisation on a regular basis, so they have a clear understanding of all security issues. The timescales of communication should be agreed on in advance.

Business Understanding

There is no one-size-fits-all in business – every organisation is different, and each has their own crown jewels. The outsourced SOC must take time to understand its customers and know exactly what is of most value to them. By understanding the organisation, the SOC will be able to offer a bespoke service to suit their specific needs, while adapting and adjusting as the business grows.

Cyber expertise

Having a good understanding of threat activity is undoubtedly the most important feature of an outsourced SOC. Analysts must possess an in-depth knowledge of threat actors, they must understand attacker techniques, and they must know which vulnerabilities must be patched as a priority. The outsourced SOC analysts must be experts in the field of cybersecurity – possessing the skills to think like a hacker and effectively defend against them.