Event vs. incident in the security operations center (SOC)

Key takeaways:

• SOC monitors cybersecurity through people, processes, and technologies.

• Events are routine activities (e.g., system updates), while incidents are anomalies (e.g., security breaches).

• Events are low-severity, incidents are high-severity, and need immediate action.

• Events are raw data without immediate threat; incidents are confirmed and indicate malicious activity.

• Incidents require alerts and urgent responses; events don’t.

• Incidents significantly impact, while events have minimal or no effect.

• Differentiating events from incidents helps prioritize resources and mitigate threats efficiently.

The security operations center (SOC) is a centralized unit within an organization deployed for monitoring and enhancing cybersecurity. It combines three tiers: people, processes, and technologies. These three tiers play their part in detecting, analyzing, and responding. SOC is vital in safeguarding the organization’s digital assets and maintaining security.

Two very important concepts in the SOC domain are events and incidents. Both of these are handled using different techniques. Let’s differentiate between the two to understand the response system in SOC.

Events vs. incidents

An event is an activity, planned or unplanned, that is in the interest of the organization or system. There are multiple metrics to distinguish between events and incidents. Examples include a system update and normal traffic in the network. Incidents are unplanned occurrences in the system that represent anomalies and unusual behavior. Examples include a security breach and unusual connection requests in the network.

The complete distinction between events and incidents is given below:

1. Severity: The severity discusses the extent of the consequences.

• Event: The events are low-severity occurrences on a system. Events include everyday occurrences or a record of the normal working of the system, like login attempts. Events do not require attention unless needed to link incidents to events.

• Incident: Incidents, however, are high-severity occurrences on the system. They indicate any anomaly or unauthorized action performed on the system that could result in severe loss. Hence, incidents require immediate attention.

2. Indication: The indication refers to the confirmation of the occurrence.

• Event: Events are raw data points that do not particularly indicate the occurrence of something malicious. They are automatically generated upon any activity on the system and do not usually indicate a security issue.

• Incident: Incidents are verified and confirmed data points. Confirmation is achieved after the investigation of the incident. They are automatically generated in case of malicious activity on the system, indicating a security issue.

3. Response strategy: The strategy indicates the series of steps to handle the occurrence.

• Event: Events do not require immediate action. The events can be dealt with during regulatory security checks on the system. Most of the events do not need to be addressed.

• Incident: Incidents are indicators of security breaches in the system; hence must be dealt with immediately. The incident response (IR) plan must be carefully drafted to respond to and mitigate the security hazard caused by the incident. SOC generates alerts to indicate the occurrences. These alerts can also be prioritized to manage the effective utilization of resources.

4. Impact: The impact discusses the consequences of the occurrence on an organization’s security.

• Event: An event has minimal to no effect on the organization’s security, and the operations continue as in a normal routine.

• Incident: An incident significantly impacts the organization’s security and hinders the normal workflow of the operations. The incidents eventually reach their ultimate outcomes, like security breaches, data leakage, data theft, access attacks, and financial losses.

5. Alerts: Alerts need to be generated to indicate the requirement for action against the occurrence.

• Event: Events do not need an alerting system to indicate their occurrence. If the alerting system is not properly managed, it may cause alert fatigue among security managers. This may take up resources and miss the critical incidents.

• Incident: An incident requires immediate alerting to enable security to deploy controls. The controls are solely focused on minimizing the damage caused by the incident.

An investigation follows an incident. The investigation process identifies the parties responsible and the intent of the incident. Events are used to link incidents to the entities involved. Events are correlated with incidents to identify the attack vector and the attacker. This also helps in identifying vulnerabilities to avoid similar attacks in the future.

Significance of distinguishing

It is important to distinguish between events and incidents at an early level. Identification helps in focusing the usage of resources on their intended purpose, responding, reducing risk, and mitigating the actual threats to the system in real time. A series of examples may help you to differentiate between events and incidents.

Now that you’ve identified and distinguished the two, resource usage is focused, and minimal work is used to cater to events. This helps polish the distinguishing and mitigating capabilities of SOC.

Conclusion

In conclusion, distinguishing between events and incidents is crucial for effectively operating a security operations center (SOC). While events are routine occurrences that typically don’t require immediate action, incidents represent serious security threats that demand prompt attention and mitigation. Properly identifying and responding to incidents ensures that resources are focused on preventing or minimizing damage, safeguarding the organization’s security posture, and maintaining operational continuity. Understanding these differences enhances threat management and helps organizations respond swiftly to potential risks.

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