SOCs Struggle with Staffing, Reporting and Visibility

Staffing remains an issue for security operations centers (SOCs), which continue to struggle with reporting and documentation while barely being able to stay afloat in a sea of alerts and false positives, according to the annual State of the SOC report from Exabeam. The report found approximately one-third of respondents said that their SOC was understaffed by 6–10 people. “Nearly 50% of understaffed SOCs indicated they don’t have sufficient funding for technology, while respondents of larger SOCs said that despite recent or increased funding for technology, they recommend continued investment in newer, more modern technologies (39%),” the press release said. In addition, shifting roles and responsibilities is a top challenge for SOC managers, with C-suite executives taking on the tasks of incident response and threat hunting, while frontline employees are completing fewer operational tasks.