NOC vs SOC: what are the differences?
What is a NOC (Network Operations Center)?
The NOC (Network Operations Center) is the operational center responsible for monitoring, managing, and maintaining a company’s network infrastructure, with the aim of ensuring operational continuity, availability, and performance of the network and IT systems.
What is a SOC (Security Operations Center)?
The SOC (Security Operations Center) is the operational center dedicated to cybersecurity. It monitors, detects, and responds to threats and security incidents that could compromise company data, systems, and operations.
Key Differences Between NOC and SOC
Objectives and priorities
The NOC deals with everything related to network operational continuity: preventing and resolving outages, ensuring systems are always available and performing well, intervening in technical issues such as power outages, hardware or software failures, and natural disasters.
The SOC focuses on defending against cyber threats: identifying, analyzing, and responding to cybersecurity threats such as intrusion attempts, malware, DDoS attacks, data theft, and system vulnerabilities.
Types of adversaries
The NOC deals with unintentional sources of disruption (technical failures, natural events).
The SOC faces intentional adversaries: cybercriminals, hackers, and malicious insiders.
Skills and tools
NOC operators are experts in networking, operating systems, server management, and network devices.
SOC operators are experts in cybersecurity, threat intelligence, forensic analysis, and security incident management and response.
Daily activities
The NOC constantly monitors the network to identify slowdowns, failures, or outages and intervenes to resolve them quickly, often before they impact users.
The SOC monitors security logs, analyzes anomalous behavior, manages security alerts, responds to incidents, and coordinates threat mitigation.
Collaboration
Although they have distinct roles, collaboration between NOC and SOC is increasingly important: network anomalies can be symptoms of cyberattacks and vice versa.
Information sharing between the two centers improves response capabilities and enhances company protection.
How NOC and SOC can be integrated within a company
Continuous communication and collaboration
Effective integration relies on ongoing communication between the NOC and SOC. When the NOC detects network anomalies or malfunctions, it should promptly inform the SOC, which can assess whether it’s a cyberattack or a simple technical fault. This collaboration enables a swift response to incidents, reducing downtime and limiting damage.
Information and alert sharing
Sharing data and alerts between the two centers allows for the identification of threats that manifest as network anomalies and vice versa, increasing visibility across the entire company infrastructure and improving crisis response capability.
Process automation
Using integrated platforms, like SIEM and unified monitoring systems, automates data collection and analysis, enabling faster and more coordinated incident responses. Automation reduces manual workload and optimizes the management of both operational and security events.
Cross-training teams
It’s important for NOC personnel to gain cybersecurity skills and for SOC staff to understand the dynamics of network operations management. Cross-training enhances collaboration and mutual understanding, making complex incident management more effective.
Implementation of shared tools and dashboards
Adopting centralized monitoring systems and shared dashboards allows both teams to have a real-time view of network and security status, facilitating collaboration and problem-solving.
Cyber Security management with CyberTrust 365’s SOC as a Service
The SG-SOC as a Service offered by CyberTrust 365 enables companies to outsource all cybersecurity management activities, allowing them to focus on their core business without worrying about cyber threats.
The SG-SOC service is based on the functionalities of the SIEM & SOAR SGBox platform, which thanks to its high capacity for collecting and correlating safety information, allows the SOC team to focus on priority threats and gain a unified view of security status, reducing average time for analysis and response.