Trustwave and Cybereason Merge to Form Global MDR Powerhouse for Unparalleled Cybersecurity Value. Learn More

Trustwave and Cybereason Merge to Form Global MDR Powerhouse for Unparalleled Cybersecurity Value. Learn More

Services
Managed Detection & Response

Eliminate active threats with 24/7 threat detection, investigation, and response.

Co-Managed SOC (SIEM)

Maximize your SIEM investment, stop alert fatigue, and enhance your team with hybrid security operations support.

Advisory & Diagnostics

Advance your cybersecurity program and get expert guidance where you need it most.

Penetration Testing

Test your physical locations and IT infrastructure to shore up weaknesses before exploitation.

Database Security

Prevent unauthorized access and exceed compliance requirements.

Email Security

Stop email threats others miss and secure your organization against the #1 ransomware attack vector.

Digital Forensics & Incident Response

Prepare for the inevitable with 24/7 global breach response in-region and available on-site.

Firewall & Technology Management

Mitigate risk of a cyberattack with 24/7 incident and health monitoring and the latest threat intelligence.

Solutions
BY TOPIC
Microsoft Security
Unlock the full power of Microsoft Security
Offensive Security
Solutions to maximize your security ROI
Rapidly Secure New Environments
Security for rapid response situations
Securing the Cloud
Safely navigate and stay protected
Securing the IoT Landscape
Test, monitor and secure network objects
Why Trustwave
About Us
Awards and Accolades
Trustwave SpiderLabs Team
Trustwave Fusion Security Operations Platform
Trustwave Security Colony
Partners
Technology Alliance Partners
Key alliances who align and support our ecosystem of security offerings
Trustwave PartnerOne Program
Join forces with Trustwave to protect against the most advance cybersecurity threats

Tips for Optimizing Your Security Operations Framework

Building an effective Security Operations framework that provides the right balance of people, processes, and technologies can take years.

Here we’ll discuss some foundational topics that can be used to grow an effective SOC Operation.

 

What is a Security Operations Framework?

An Operations Framework is a group of tools and processes a SOC Operations team depends on every day to perform its duties. For example, Microsoft’s Well Architected Framework recommends the following steps as part of your security operations framework:

  • Define your teams (eg. Tier 1,2,3)
  • Define your processes (eg. SIEM, CSPM, alerting and investigation/threat hunting)
  • Build Automations (eg. SOAR, AI tools)
  • Build metrics (dashboards, reports)

Image 1 Microsoft’s Security Operations Model from their Cloud Architected Framework
Image 1: Microsoft’s Security Operations Model from their Cloud Architected Framework

 

Identifying the Critical Components of Your Security Operations.

Developing a more comprehensive Security Operations Framework involves breaking down the high-level components into frameworks and processes. This technique presents each component as several manageable parts and thus reduces its complexity.

For example, take the following SOC components and their underlying frameworks and processes:

Security Research

  • Threat Intelligence Feeds (paid service, Mitre ATT&CK, etc.)
  • Maintain a list of research sites that are checked regularly for new threats to your organization.
  • Develop new processes/procedures for defending against these new threats.
  • Use tools to monitor and understand your network’s attack paths.

Logging, detection, and alert tuning

  • Develop a ‘logging framework’ to streamline the onboarding process for new logs.
  • Create a ‘threat detection workflow’ for consistent development of threat-related detections.
  • Develop an alert tuning process for identifying and tuning false positive alerts.

Incident Response

  • Create an investigative workflow for each unique incident type – e.g., Investigation steps for internal/external users, IP addresses, EDR alerts, phishing.

Reporting and Dashboards

  • Compliance Reports
    - For all log sources – used by the audit team
  • Threat Reports
    - For security-specific log sources – used by the SOC team

New Application Onboarding

  • Create an application onboarding framework that includes steps for the above SOC components.

Automation

  • Use tools like SOAR and AI to develop automation for all the above components.

 

Summary

Security Operations require several layers of well-developed people, processes, and technologies.
The use of a mature architecture framework can speed up the process of developing this complex infrastructure.

References


About This Blog Series

Follow the full series here: Building Defenses with Modern Security Solutions

This series discusses a list of key cybersecurity defense topics. The full collection of posts and labs can be used as an educational tool for implementing cybersecurity defenses.


Labs

For quick walkthrough labs on the topics in this blog series, check out the story of “ZPM Incorporated” and their steps to implementing all the solutions discussed here.


Compliance

All topics mentioned in this series have been mapped to several compliance controls here.

About the Author

David Broggy is Senior Solutions Architect, Implementation Services at Trustwave with over 21 years of experience. He holds multiple security certifications and won Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for Azure Security. Follow David on LinkedIn.

ABOUT TRUSTWAVE

Trustwave is a globally recognized cybersecurity leader that reduces cyber risk and fortifies organizations against disruptive and damaging cyber threats. Our comprehensive offensive and defensive cybersecurity portfolio detects what others cannot, responds with greater speed and effectiveness, optimizes client investment, and improves security resilience. Learn more about us.

Latest Intelligence

Discover how our specialists can tailor a security program to fit the needs of
your organization.

Request a Demo