As IT environments become increasingly complex, organisations have to adopt more sophisticated cyber security solutions to protect their most valuable and vulnerable assets.
Alongside this, cyber threats are constantly becoming more and more complex and dangerous, facilitating a need for organisations to gain a complete view of their network infrastructure and be able to respond to threats at all times of day, wherever they are located. Even the smallest vulnerability could lead to a disastrous breach that can disrupt operations, ruin reputations, and cost millions in regulatory fines.
To enable organisations to better protect themselves against modern cybercriminals, Gartner developed the SOC Visibility Triad. In this blog, we are going to discuss what the SOC Triad is, how each aspect of it fits together, and why enterprises must adopt this approach to cyber security.
What is the SOC Visibility Triad?
Gartner’s SOC Visibility Triad is a network-centric structure that is designed to create a comprehensive and complete approach to cyber security strategy. By combining three distinct pillars – Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), Network Detection and Response (NDR), and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) – organisations can achieve a level of cyber security protection previously unattainable.
Gartner had this to say about the SOC Triad when it was originally announced: “The escalating sophistication of threats requires organisations to use multiple data sources for threat detection and response. Network-based technologies enable technical professionals to obtain quick threat visibility across an entire environment without using agents.”
The idea of collecting data from numerous sources is important. This allows a SOC to improve their detection, investigation, and response speed, as well as increase the accuracy of their decision-making.
When the three pillars of the SOC Visibility Triad are combined, SOC teams have a complete view of their organisation’s network, vastly improving the effectiveness of threat detection and response.
What are the 3 pillars of the SOC Visibility Triad?
The SOC Visibility Triad is made up of three distinct pillars: SIEM, EDR, and NDR. Each of these pillars works harmoniously together to create a holistic and complete cyber security system that protects every aspect of an organisation’s network infrastructure.
SIEM (Security Information and Event Management)
A SIEM system monitors, logs, identifies, and analyses cyber security alerts that affect an organisation’s network. This is achieved in real-time by collecting and collating data from as many data sources as possible within the network. Ultimately, this provides a complete view of an organisation’s infrastructure, allowing the SOC to easily investigate and remediate cyber threats.
When used by itself without EDR and NDR capabilities, a SIEM can miss exploits and vulnerabilities that don’t show up in logs. They also rely on the technologies within an organisation’s infrastructure supporting log collection. Therefore, if a technology doesn’t integrate with the SIEM, it can lead to a blind spot.
EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)
As its name suggests, EDR focuses on collecting and analysing data from an organisation’s endpoints. This includes servers, desktops, laptops, IoT devices, mobile phones, and more.
An EDR system combines this data collection with real-time threat monitoring and automated threat remediation capabilities, protecting endpoints from a variety of cyber-attacks.
On its own, EDR doesn’t provide the depth of protection that large organisations require. It doesn’t prevent lateral network movement and in isolation only protects a small portion of the network infrastructure. It can also be difficult to scale for enterprises due to the sheer number of endpoints present.
NDR (Network Detection and Response)
NDR ties the SOC Triad together, providing a complete view of an organisation’s network and protecting them from both internal and external attacks. NDR also has the unique benefit of protecting against attackers moving laterally within a network, greatly reducing the ability of an attacker to cause additional damage upon a successful breach.
NDR enables SOC and security teams to quickly analyse network data from both an internal and external perspective. It limits the amount of time an attacker can remain within a network and reduces the likelihood that an attacker can breach the network in the first place.
Why is the SOC Visibility Triad important for your organisation?
Modern organisations require a cyber security solution that provides complete protection against all forms of cyber threat. Due to the complexity and size of network infrastructures now, the only way to achieve this is with a solution that incorporates multiple cyber security tools.
Whilst it may be possible to achieve a high level of protection with solutions outside of the SOC Triad structure, it would be prohibitively expensive and require vast amounts of investment in terms of human resources, training, and infrastructure.
The SOC Triad provides the highest level of protection possible at the most efficient cost to organisations. These costs can be lowered even further by utilising an MSSP, like Wizard Cyber.
Ultimately, combining the three pillars of the SOC Triad leads to organisations having a multi-layered, efficient, and comprehensive cyber security system that is effective at dealing with modern cyber threats.
Is your organisation struggling with managing and maintaining its cyber security systems? Are you lacking the necessary functionality to effectively deal with cyber threats? Is your security team dealing with alert fatigue and an inability to hire the necessary talent? Get in touch with Wizard Cyber today. Our cyber security experts can walk you through our managed services and outline how you can achieve a complete SOC Triad at a fraction of the cost of building it yourself.
