IR.L3-3.6.1e Security Operations Center

Establish and maintain a security operations center capability that operates 24/7, with allowance for remote/on-call staff.

Source: NIST SP 800-172 3.6.1e

Discussion: A security operations center (SOC) is the focal point for security operations and computer network defense for an organization. The purpose of the SOC is to defend and monitor an organization’s systems and networks (i.e., cyber infrastructure) on an ongoing basis. The SOC is also responsible for detecting, analyzing, and responding to cybersecurity incidents in a timely manner. The SOC is staffed with skilled technical and operational personnel (e.g., security analysts, incident response personnel, systems security engineers); in some instances operates 24 hours per day, seven days per week; and implements technical, management, and operational controls (e.g., monitoring, scanning, and forensics tools) to monitor, fuse, correlate, analyze, and respond to security-relevant event data from multiple sources. Sources of event data include perimeter defenses, network devices (e.g., gateways, routers, and switches), and endpoint agent data feeds. The SOC provides a holistic situational awareness capability to help organizations determine the security posture of the system and organization. An SOC capability can be obtained in many ways. Larger organizations may implement a dedicated SOC while smaller organizations may employ third-party organizations to provide such a capability. [SP 800-61] provides guidance on incident handling. [SP 800-86] and [SP 800-101] provide guidance on integrating forensic techniques into incident response. [SP 800-150] provides guidance on cyber threat information sharing. [SP 800-184] provides guidance on cybersecurity event recovery.

Assessment Objectives:

Determine if:

Examine: [SELECT FROM: Incident response policy; contingency planning policy; procedures addressing incident handling; procedures addressing the security operations center operations; mechanisms supporting dynamic response capabilities; incident response plan; contingency plan; security plan; other relevant documents or records].

Interview: [SELECT FROM: Organizational personnel responsible for incident handling; organizational personnel responsible for contingency planning; security operations center personnel; organizational personnel responsible for information security].

Test: [SELECT FROM: Mechanisms that support and/or implement the security operations center capability; mechanisms that support and/or implement the incident handling process].

SPRS Score: 1

POA&M Allowed: No