A Holistic Approach To Integrate SOC, NOC, AppSec And GRC Functions

Ambuj Kumar is co-founder and CEO of Simbian, a serial security entrepreneur and the creator of Confidential Computing.

Picture this: a security operations center (SOC) defending digital strongholds, a network operations center (NOC) ensuring smooth data highways, AppSec warriors fortifying code citadels, and governance, risk and compliance (GRC) stalwarts monitoring regulatory landscapes.

Distinct superheroes with their own capes and quirks.

While these individual cybersecurity teams have been effective in the past, the concept of separate solutions for SOC, NOC, AppSec and GRC is starting to show its limitations. Businesses truly need a unified, comprehensive approach that integrates all these functionalities into one.

The Old Cybersecurity Approach

Let’s first look over the traditional setup to make sure we understand the need for a unified cybersecurity solution for businesses.

The SOC team monitors and responds to security incidents, such as cyberattacks or breaches, to protect the company’s data and systems from hackers.

The NOC team ensures that network systems, such as servers and routers, run smoothly to prevent network issues that could disrupt the company’s operations.

The AppSec team secures the company’s software from web to mobile apps. The team detects problems in software and fixes them to protect from hackers.

The GRC team ensures that the company follows all policies and regulations according to law and company standards and implements proper governance practices.

The Limitations Of Disparate Cybersecurity Teams

The individual silos of these specialized teams present some severe limitations.

Fragmentation And Silos

Specialized cybersecurity teams operate independently, each excelling in their own domains, but this siloed approach creates communication gaps. For example, there may be a sophisticated cyberattack on the network, which then moves to attack applications and leverages weaknesses in compliance controls to cover its tracks.

Since each team focuses on its domain, it might miss how the attack is happening, which can allow more complex attacks to succeed.

Increased Complexity

Using different tools and processes significantly complicates cybersecurity strategy. For instance, managing multiple tools for network monitoring, security incident detection, application security and compliance management can quickly become overwhelming. This complexity raises the risk of errors in security configurations, potentially creating gaps that attackers can exploit to infiltrate systems.

Redundant Efforts

Separate teams often execute duplicate efforts. For example, SOC and AppSec perform vulnerability scans to check security threats without coordinating the problems. These duplications waste resources and reduce the effectiveness of the cybersecurity strategy.

Why Unified Decision-Making Is Critical

The constraints of specialized cybersecurity teams underscore businesses’ need to have a holistic view of cybersecurity signals and coordinate actions across their cybersecurity functions. Any gaps between functions are opportunities for adversaries to hide.

Enhanced Visibility And Context

A unified cybersecurity approach provides a comprehensive view of the entire IT environment. Instead of each team seeing only part of the picture, everyone can access the same information with an integrated system.

If the SOC detects suspicious activity, it can instantly share that information with the NOC, AppSec and GRC teams. This helps everyone understand the full context of the threat and allows the appropriate teams to respond more effectively.

Streamlined Operations

Secondly, juggling multiple tools and processes is unnecessary since a unified solution consolidates them into a single platform. For instance, an integrated tool can handle both, rather than having separate systems for network monitoring and threat detection. Everything in one place ensures that security settings are consistent and correctly configured.

Quick Threat Detection And Response

Real-time data sharing and advanced analytics are critical for timely threat detection and response. With all security data in one system, machine learning can be applied to spot patterns and predict potential threats. For example, if there is an attack on the network, the system will look at similar previous attacks to anticipate the attacker’s next move. This helps in quicker response before the threat can damage the system.

Economic Efficiency

When you use multiple specialized tools, you pay for licenses, maintenance and training for each one. By adopting an integrated approach, businesses can cut these costs and improve efficiency. They need fewer resources to get the same or even better security results.

Improved Compliance And Risk Management

With everything monitored and enforced in one place, businesses can consistently meet legal and industry standards.

For example, a unified approach can automatically track and report data protection compliance, reducing the risk of fines and legal issues. This approach also helps spot and manage risks more effectively since all potential threats and vulnerabilities are managed together.

Holistic Security: Idea To Implementation

While this holistic approach has many benefits, it’s essential to be guided by use cases. For example, build a list of desired outcomes and track the return on investment for each. Another consideration in the implementation phase should be supporting your specific security tools and processes.

Certain challenges demand comprehensive approaches, and cybersecurity is a prime example. Simply securing endpoints is insufficient if users can still fall victim to malicious links. Similarly, identifying sensitive data and enforcing access controls is futile if vulnerabilities persist within identity providers. The essence of cybersecurity lies in the integration and cohesion of all its facets, each essential to achieving robust protection.

Cybersecurity practitioners will do better in the long run by investing in tools that can work across cybersecurity functions.

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