Question 1

Why Is SOC Training Important?

Accepted Answer

An effective SOC requires not just technical expertise from analysts, but a fundamental understanding of how the tools, processes, and data all come together to give the team a comprehensive view of attempted attacks and help them act to stop them. SOC training courses from SANS like SEC450: Blue Team Fundamentals - Security Operations and Analysis teach not only the concepts your team will need to be successful, but how to orchestrate data flow between SOC tools like a SIEM, Threat Intelligence Platform, and Incident Management system to ensure detected attacks can be dealt with at peak efficiency. In order to be at your best, teams must understand not only the “what, why, and how” of attack detection, but also best practice for triage and incident response workflow, and the methods to measure and consistently improve those capabilities over time.

Question 2

Will Getting A Certification Help Me In A SOC Role?

Accepted Answer

SOC role-related certifications such as the GIAC GSOC, GMON, GSOM, GCDA, GCIA, GCIH, and GREM are a great way to improve your capabilities as an analyst, improving both your teams’ capabilities and your own value in the market. Taking these certifications not only shows that you understand and can apply these important data analysis and threat detection skills but help cement the concepts learned in the related courses in your memory for fast recall during an incident.

Question 3

What Does A SOC Analyst Do?

Accepted Answer

SOC analysts typically have an incredibly varied, challenging, and exciting role that slightly depends on the organization they work at and how they structure and run their security team. The core of the job is looking at network, endpoint, and cloud activity and trying to identify any attempted cyber-attacks so that they can be immediately halted. This requires understanding and looking at log files, network captures, malware and more, and learning how to understand, scope, and contain an attack in progress - a task that is always changing given the nature of constantly evolving attack methods and vulnerabilities. But some security analyst roles go further than that, including activities such as threat hunting, detection engineering (writing new rules and analytics to detect attacks), incident response, and even dipping into some threat intelligence, and forensics duties as well.

Question 4

What Is A Tier 1 SOC Analyst?

Accepted Answer

A tier 1 SOC analyst plays the incredibly important role of front-line defense for an organization’s security operations center. These positions typically involve being the first to look at identified potential attacks and triaging them for priority and severity, solving the issues that you are capable of, and escalating as necessary to further tiers. First-tier SOC analyst jobs are a great position as a point of entry into information security and are often the launching point for a long and in-depth career in cyber defense, and can lead down paths of additional SOC expertise, or towards engineering and architecture positions, specialty forensics roles, and more.

Question 5

What Is A Tier 2 SOC Analyst?

Accepted Answer

A tier 2 SOC analyst is the next level of progression in a tiered SOC for an analyst who has gained mastery of all the tier 1 concepts. As a tier 2 analyst, duties typically become more complex and involve more open-ended tasks such as threat hunting, detection engineering, tool creation and automation tasks, and more. At this level, analysts are expected to have a much stronger grasp of not only SOC analyst duties and workflow, but also an increasing level of familiarity with the organization that they’re defending, allowing them to make faster and higher quality decisions in situations that may have a more severe impact. Tier 2 SOC analysts should be smooth and practiced with all SOC procedures and tools and understand what to do as an incident starts to develop and be able to take charge and make strong experience-based decisions on the next best course of action.

Question 6

What Is A Tier 3 SOC Analyst?

Accepted Answer

A tier 3 SOC analyst (which may or may not exist in certain organizations depending on the size of the SOC) is the top role when it comes to security analysts. At this level, analysts are expected to do incredibly deep analysis and will likely specialize in at least one facet of security monitoring - malware analysis, packet capture analysis, in-depth complex threat hunting for advanced threats, and more. On top of this, tier 3 SOC analysts are typically expected to be leaders and mentors for other in the SOC, helping guide newer analysts to build their skills and realize their potential. Analysts at this tier should also expect to be heavily involved in process improvement and automation projects. As they likely have the highest level of seniority at the organization’s they work for, their deep knowledge of the environment best lends itself to high-value SOC improvement projects, specialized detection engineering tasks, nuanced and detail-oriented threat hunting, leading, or assisting incident response, and more.

Question 7

How Do I Become A SOC Analyst?

Accepted Answer

There are multiple paths to becoming a SOC (Security Operations Center) analyst. While traditionally many professionals transition from non-security IT roles into SOC positions, this is no longer the only or most common route. Today, SOC analyst positions (especially tier 1) are commonly filled by recent graduates of cybersecurity-related academic programs, professionals from related IT roles, internal transfers within an organization’s security team, and career changers from non-technical backgrounds. 
The global shortage of cybersecurity talent has created significant opportunities for entry into this field. Security Analyst has been ranked as a top career choice for the past several years due to its strong job growth, competitive compensation, and increasing demand across industries.

Question 8

What Is The Difference Between NOC And SOC?

Accepted Answer

NOC stands for “Network Operations Center” and is typically the group of people / location where the general health of an organization’s network is monitored. The goal is to quickly identify any service issues or outages and remediate them as quickly as possible. A SOC/CSOC (Cyber Security Operations Center) on the other hand is similar in that it is monitoring for signs of issues in the realm of cyber-attacks. You may hear the term SOC used in the world of physical security as well referring to a room of people monitoring cameras to physically guard a location, which is why some slightly change the acronym to CSOC, or otherwise to be specific about the cybersecurity angle.

SEC595: Applied Data Science and AI/Machine Learning for Cybersecurity Professionals

Master the Tools, Techniques, and Tradecraft of Modern SOCs

Inside the Modern SOC: What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next

General SOC Training Courses

SEC450: SOC Analyst Training – Applied Skills for Cyber Defense Operations

SEC511: Cybersecurity Engineering: Advanced Threat Detection and Monitoring

LDR551: Building and Leading Security Operations Centers

Advanced SOC Training Courses

SEC503: Network Monitoring and Threat Detection In-Depth

SEC504: Hacker Tools, Techniques, and Incident Handling

SEC541: Cloud Security Threat Detection

SEC555: Detection Engineering and SIEM Analytics

SEC595: Applied Data Science and AI/Machine Learning for Cybersecurity Professionals

Security Operations Center (SOC) Tools and Resources

Guide to Security Operations

SIEM: A Log Lifecycle

SANS 2025 SOC Survey Webcast and Forum

The SOC of the Future Is Data Driven

Recommended SOC Videos

Faster, Better, AND Cheaper

10 Crucial Skills for Security Operations

SOC Alert Tuning and False Positive Reduction

Build the Best in Cyber Defense with the Blueprint Podcast

Frequently Asked Questions

Hear What Others Have To Say About SANS SOC Training Courses

SEC595: Applied Data Science and AI/Machine Learning for Cybersecurity Professionals

Master the Tools, Techniques, and Tradecraft of Modern SOCs

Inside the Modern SOC: What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next

General SOC Training Courses

SEC450: SOC Analyst Training – Applied Skills for Cyber Defense Operations

Quick view

SEC511: Cybersecurity Engineering: Advanced Threat Detection and Monitoring

Quick view

LDR551: Building and Leading Security Operations Centers

Quick view

Advanced SOC Training Courses

SEC503: Network Monitoring and Threat Detection In-Depth

Quick view

SEC504: Hacker Tools, Techniques, and Incident Handling

Quick view

SEC541: Cloud Security Threat Detection

Quick view

SEC555: Detection Engineering and SIEM Analytics

Quick view

SEC595: Applied Data Science and AI/Machine Learning for Cybersecurity Professionals

Quick view

Security Operations Center (SOC) Tools and Resources

Guide to Security Operations

SIEM: A Log Lifecycle

SANS 2025 SOC Survey Webcast and Forum

The SOC of the Future Is Data Driven

Recommended SOC Videos

Faster, Better, AND Cheaper

10 Crucial Skills for Security Operations

SOC Alert Tuning and False Positive Reduction

Build the Best in Cyber Defense with the Blueprint Podcast

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Is SOC Training Important?

Will Getting A Certification Help Me In A SOC Role?

What Does A SOC Analyst Do?

What Is A Tier 1 SOC Analyst?

What Is A Tier 2 SOC Analyst?

What Is A Tier 3 SOC Analyst?

How Do I Become A SOC Analyst?

What Is The Difference Between NOC And SOC?

Hear What Others Have To Say About SANS SOC Training Courses