Security Operations Centre

A security operations centre (SOC) is the team and the tools that keep watch over an organisation's computers and networks, looking for signs of an attack and dealing with them when they appear. Analysts sit across a stream of alerts from around the business, sort the real problems from the noise and step in when something genuine is found, often around the clock.

It is the digital version of a building's security desk with its wall of camera screens, watching for trouble and calling in help when needed. A business can run its own SOC or pay a specialist provider to do it, and what makes one good is how well its alerts are tuned to catch real threats, not how many it collects.