Soc Analyst Jobs Are In-Demand Right Now And Here’s Why!
By Ankita Tripathy
13 September, 2024
Job & Career
Last Updated on: September 17th, 2024
Fraudulent activities online have increased manifold in recent times. Even attacks on databases and networks keep increasing. These fraudsters pose new challenges to the business world.
This is the reason why organizations are recruiting SOC analysts that play an important part in managing security online.
The security operations center jobs are in high demand these days. It has a promising future. You will find thousands of aspirants trying their hands on SOC analysis.
This is in reaction to the growing demand for these jobs all around Europe and the USA.
Let’s take refuge in facts and figures. According to a report published by the UK Government, there has been a major increase in this job position has increased.
Also, experts think that the demand for these jobs has increased by a massive 10% only in recent times.
However, if you are one of the aspirants serving big companies and wish to take up challenges, then this article is meant for you.
What Is An SOC Analyst?
So what is a soc analyst?
The full form of a SOC analyst stands for “Security Operations Center Analyst“. They are security specialists who oversee the network of an organization and other systems. Additionally, they identify and deal with potential cybersecurity threats.
A SOC analyst also tests for vulnerabilities in the network. Besides, they protect the organization’s sensitive data from malware or malicious elements.
Why SOC Analyst Jobs Are In-Demand?
Are you thinking of building a career as a skilled SOC Analyst? If yes, let us tell you have made a smart move.
This is because the job offers a very good salary and respect. This is the reason the fascination with entering this field has increased in recent times.
However, in this section, we will try to understand why SOC analyst jobs are in high demand.
1. High Demand And Job Security
The organizations are aware that cyber threats and data breaches have been taking place for quite some time. According to a report by Cybersecurity Ventures, Cybercrime is likely to create ravages worth $10.5 trillion annually by 2025!
The very statistics reiterate the fact that networks are becoming more vulnerable than ever.
This is where specialized positions like SOC analysts have an important role to play. Companies are looking to upscale their cybersecurity in the days to come.
2. Competitive Salaries
Given the increased popularity of such posts, people are increasing their job searches. Yes, they also want to have a great career.
Hence, questions like how to become a cloud engineer and SOC analyst have cropped up in the minds of enthusiastic students.
Now, with increasing opportunities the salaries improve, which is normal.
When you are looking for SOC salaries in the USA, they start at $70000.
But soon after a few years, the salary increases with time. Other than the salary, the SOC analyst gets many other benefits like retirement plans, health insurance retirement plans, and others.
3. Diverse Career Paths
One of the things that puts the domain in an advantageous position is the diverse opportunities. You may start with baby steps, but after some time, you may be promoted to higher posts like incident response managers or even cybersecurity consultants. Also, according to statistics, nearly 50000 positions were owned only in the year 2022.
The openings are expected to increase in the coming years. There are major cyber security companies operating in different parts of
Europe and the USA are looking to hire such positions in their company. Hence, if you attain competency, the sky is the limit for you, that’s for sure.
4. Continuous Learning And Skill Development
If you are inquisitive in nature, then there are many opportunities for you to learn about new opportunities in cybersecurity. New technology evolves every day.
The era of AI-powered cyber attacked HSA and asked for SOC analysts’ requirements. Such an environment keeps the job challenging for professionals.
Also, many organizations offer training programs that help transform people’s skills and knowledge on the subject.
How To Become A Cyber Security Analyst?
As we mentioned , the demand for SOC individuals keeps increasing over time.
However, to attain it, one must invest time in attaining devout knowledge, skills, certificates, most importantly, the credentials to have a successful career in this very field. This section, tries to understand how to become a cyber security analyst.
Certification: Your First Step To Becoming A Soc Analyst
The first requirement is a bachelor’s degree. It means the first step to attaining a SOC analyst job appointment is attaining a bachelor’s degree in computer sciences
Besides, it would help if you have a comprehensive understanding of the IT systems.
However, you can complete a dedicated cybersecurity course. Apart from that there is the SOC analysis job.
To attain it, you need to gather certifications like EC-Council, called the Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) or, say, CompTIA’s Security+. These certificates help professionals attain a good basic idea of the specific IT skill required for this very role.
Furthermore, there are more posts, such as the SOC analyst role. It has its equivalent, network security engineer.
For these roles, you will have to attain deeper knowledge and certifications as a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP). These roles are more challenging, but they come with higher rewards.
IT Experience
If the first or the most basic requisite to getting the SOC analyst job is knowledge and a certificate, then IT experience is also something you cannot miss out on.
Hence, you can understand that one way to understand “how to become a social analyst” is by having adequate IT experience.
Yes, there are some experts who have great knowledge, but somehow, they fail to attain success in their respective domains. IT experience is highly useful without the slightest of doubts.
Earning experience in IT provides SOC analysts with a solid grounding in all the basics.
However, a specific background in cybersecurity is necessary. Some of the common skills in the information technology domain that you need to attain include:
- Incident response.
- Digital forensics.
- Cloud security.
- Network defense.
- Reverse engineering.
Hence, you understand that besides earning the degrees and skills, you also must acquire good IT skills.
Different Levels Of SOC Analyst
Job roles like network security engineer and SOC analyst have multiple challenges.
Specifically, discussed in the periphery of SOC analysts, there are different levels. Knowing it will enable a clear understanding of the job responsibilities.
As you steer through the SOC analyst journey, the entire job responsibility can be segregated into three tires when necessary.
Tier 1- Triage
Tier 1 is the junior-level post or, say, the initiating point of the SOC career. The Tier 1 SOC analyst will be responsible for triaging cybersecurity- related incidents.
This denotes they are responsible for pinpointing security-related issues, scope, impact, and security analysis.
Tier 2 level SOC analysts– Investigation
The next stage of the level is investigation. The professionals who fall under this group oversee security breaches and determine the root cause when the Tier 1 SOC Analyst fails to do it. This responsibility comes up with attaining more experience.
Moreover, it also helps create reports. You can put them equivalent to the cyber security auditor.
Tier 3- Threat Hunting
This is the penultimate level of SOC analyst’s job responsibilities. This tier involves working continuously to track areas of vulnerabilities in cybersecurity defense or the organization.
The professional’s adept in this level requires additional certification or experience in advanced security areas like ethical hacking and penetration testing.
The Job Description of an SOC Analysts
The role of the SOC analysts is quite fast-paced. Their job holds different responsibilities- all related directly to reporting, documentation and assessment. In this section, we discuss some of the key responsibilities.
Monitoring
Monitoring is the basic area of work for SOC analysts. Specifically, it ensures the smooth functioning of the security systems. It involves detection systems and real-time reporting.
Detection Of Threat
When there is a detection of suspicious elements, the junior analyst must report even the smallest threats to the senior analysts. Here, the senior SOC analysis works on a mitigation plan that addresses all the damages.
Collaboration
Another area of responsibility of the SOC analysts is collaboration. The SOC analysts collaborate with the incident response teams, compliance teams, and IT operations.
Together, they act to safeguard the systems from threats. They also chalk out an initial mitigation plan in case of a security event.
Assessment of Security
The SOC analysts, depending on the various seniority levels and experience, participate in or conduct security assessments.
This includes reviewing policies and vulnerability scans, testing the effectiveness of security control, and assessing other risk areas.
You can say it is one of the major areas of responsibility of these professionals.
Staying Updated: Yes You Will Have A Great Future Ahed!
The job role of the SOC analysts requires a thorough understanding of the threats and vulnerabilities.
Keeping up with the evolving landscape and understanding the sophistication of the attack also counts as one of the core responsibilities of this individual.
It helps improve the detection of threats and response systems. Hence you need to stay updated and attain the necessary requisites to have a bright future as a SOC analyst
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