$11.5 trillion.
That’s the amount predicted global cybercrime will cost in 2023. As cyber attacks continue to evolve, becoming more damaging and more devious, organizations are desperate for comprehensive, proactive solutions. For many, that means a security operations center (SOC).
What is a SOC?
The best way to think of a SOC is as the central command center of all security activities.
A SOC combines the human element of security with technology, taking in telemetry from a variety of sources which experienced security analysts used to make decisions on which threats to follow up on. The SOC works both proactively and reactively, advancing the organization’s security posture while also monitoring for, and acting upon, advanced threats or cyber attacks.
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as an organization deciding a SOC is the right choice for their security strategy. That’s because building and maintaining an in-house security operations center requires a massive spend of time, talent, and money that’s simply not feasible for most enterprises.
The average organization spends $2.86 million on their in-house SOC (in 2020, a number that is certain to have grown since that time) — some exponentially more.
What Does it Take to Build a SOC?
It’s not hard to see why SOC spending can quickly spiral out of control.
To fully staff a SOC for 24×7 protection, you’re looking at hiring 8 to 12 employees. And most SOC analysts earn between $75,000 and $119,000. That means a spend of $600,000 minimum to build your own SOC. That number is also assumes every analyst on the team is making the lowest end salary, without any consideration of bonuses or profit sharing. As you can imagine, the actual number is likely to be much higher. And that’s if you can find qualified staff to hire.
The growing cybersecurity skills gap means there’s far more open positions than there are analysts to fill them (estimated at an astounding 3.4 million), meaning the competition for the best talent is fierce.
Even if you can hire staff for your own SOC, it takes a considerable amount of time to hire and train a SOC analyst.
On top of all these factors, the average analyst switches jobs every two years, according to Ponemon’s The Economics of Security Operations Centers. That means you can quickly find yourself in an endless cycle of hiring, training, and hiring all over again.
In short: Cybersecurity experts are difficult to find, expensive to acquire, challenging to retain, and leave the business exposed to attack when they depart. It’s a costly proposition. What’s an organization to do?
Consider security operations solutions as a managed service.
Find Your Savings with our Security Operations ROI Calculator
In total, staffing a SOC to full capacity can cost your organization up to 9x as much as a security operations solution like Managed Detection and Response (MDR). But every organization is different in terms of scope and size. That’s why we’ve developed the Security Operations Savings Calculator. With this interactive tool, you can quickly and easily find out how much money you’ll save by partnering with a security operations solutions provider like Arctic Wolf.
Simply input:
- The number employees in your organization
- The number of servers (physical or cloud)
- How many workstations in your organization
- The number of internet-facing firewalls
Once you’ve provided this data, you’re a quick calculation away from taking the first step in improving your security posture. Check out the Total Cost of Ownership calculator and find out just how much money your organization could be saving on cybersecurity.
And if you’re looking for more information on Arctic Wolf’s industry-leading security operations solutions, reach out to our team to schedule a demo today.
