Strategies for Building a Strong SOC Team and Developing Analysts

Building a strong SOC doesn’t happen overnight. It requires strategic planning, smart hiring, and a long-term vision. This is especially true when it comes to the bedrock of any successful SOC: its analysts. SOC managers play a crucial role in building, mentoring, and developing analysts to ensure the SOC is resilient and effective. If you’re a SOC manager, here are some strategies for building a strong SOC team.

Hiring Your Team of Analysts

When hiring a team of analysts, it’s crucial to balance the need for specific security tooling expertise with big-picture skills like pattern recognition, root cause analysis, and problem-solving. It’s rare to find an analyst who checks all the boxes, so aim to hire individuals with knowledge in multiple areas, the drive to continually learn, and a willingness to teach others.

Mastering the Art of Scheduling

An effectively scheduled team is a productive team. Establishing standardized scheduling systems early on can significantly reduce chaos and stress in the SOC. Utilizing a shift overlap day, where multiple teams work on the same day each week, is a tried and true method that ensures coverage while allowing time for training, team meetings, and process documentation.

Using Training Pods for Skill Development

If you’re the manager of a SOC for an MSSP, building teams of analysts who can handle various technologies in client environments can be a challenge. A solution many SOC managers have found effective is to create training pods. By grouping clients based on the type of technology they use and training a team of analysts in that specific technology, you can ensure your team is well-equipped to handle diverse client needs. Training pods can work just as well for SOC managers who are looking to encourage upskilling and knowledge transfer among in-house teams, too.

Prioritizing Performance Management

Performance management is crucial to holding individual analysts and the entire SOC team accountable for business objectives. This involves setting achievable performance standards based on SLAs and business requirements, and regularly reviewing operational execution against those standards.

Key performance metrics include compliance rate, cost per incident, mean time to detect, incident escalation rate, and return on investment. The trick is to choose the right metrics that truly deliver improved security outcomes. For instance, looking at how long alerts sit before being addressed by analysts, the average investigation time for specific alerts, and the false positive rate of escalated incidents can provide valuable insights.

Combating Burnout

SOC analyst burnout is an unfortunate reality that most SOC managers must work hard to prevent. Promoting work-life balance, staying empathetic, and considering job rotation are all strategies that may help you stay ahead or alleviate this problem. A proactive focus on well-being helps protect analysts from burnout and ensures a more effective and cohesive team.Assembling and developing your team of SOC analysts requires a strategic and thoughtful approach. For more in-depth guidance, consider checking out our guide: Leading the SOC: A Tactical Guide for SOC Managers.