Strong security of business data is the priority of every business owner. Towards this end, businesses choose to build in-house System and Organization Controls (SOC) team and reporting structure.
The SOC team is responsible for keeping an eye on the company’s data security. The primary goal of this team is to protect the business from all the potential cyber threats. If a company is saving any of the data on the cloud storage, then it is necessary for them to have a SOC compliance structure, which ensures that their security is being audited continuously.
In addition, the SOC team analyze the changes in the servers, databases, networks, and websites. It is the responsibility of the SOC team to prevent all the security threats.
To help understand better, we will briefly take you through the process of setting up a SOC reporting structure for your business.
#1 Create a Strategy
Strategy is the core component of the SOC reporting structure because a smooth workflow will ensure full compliance. You need to clearly define the strategy to implement and align it with the business goals, ensuring that the goals are achieved without any hindrance.
The strategic plan details the technical components of the SOC reporting structure. Make sure to invest a lot of time in building a strategy as your complete SOC reporting structure will work according to this strategy only.
#2 Consider the Infrastructure
Once you are done with the strategic plan, the next thing that you need to do is decide the infrastructure. The components of an excellent SOC reporting infrastructure include firewalls, probes, security information and event management, breach detection software, and IPS. The infrastructure should be set in such way that it is capable of capturing the data through syslog, telemetry, and other methods which will help the reporting team in analyzing the data.
#3 Build a Team
Once the strategy and infrastructure are complete, you need to build a team of skilled and trained professionals which can do the job effectively. You need to make sure to select the people as per the requirements and the responsibilities. In addition, you need to decide that who will monitor the threats, who will be responsible for fixing the issues, who will be accountable for the security intelligence and other similar duties. After you have decided the responsibilities, you need to get the right people for the team.
#4 Creating a Response Process
The next thing that needs to be done is to create a response process which will help in handling any incident. When it comes to the process, then it will begin from triage, move on to the rating and end at solving the root cause of the event.
#5 Getting SOC Compliance Done
Having SOC compliance done at periodic intervals is necessary to avoid risks. There are numerous companies like Reciprocity Labs that offer 360-degree comprehensive SOC compliance solutions. The ZenGRC product from Reciprocity Labs offers a complete SOC framework and compliance system with which companies can track and map policies, controls, risks, vendors and more. There is centralized evidence collection and assessments, and accessibility determined through various team roles. Businesses can get content and upgrades for COBIT 5, COSO, HIPAA, FedRAMP, NIST, ISO/IEC, PCI-DSS, SOX, SOC 1/2/3, and more.
#5 Connect with Different Departments of Your Business
Without a doubt, there will be numerous departments in your company and for optimum productivity, each department should coordinate with each other. When it comes to data security, then the first department that strikes our minds is the IT department. Teams need to ensure that smooth communication and collaboration remains with all the departments, such as legal, compliance, HR, and others. All the strategic SOC plans and goals should be shared with all these departments so that they could work accordingly and provide the work as per the needs.
Endnote
Setting up a SOC reporting structure for a business is not an easy task, but with the help of right guidance and team, it can be achieved effortlessly. The above was the process of creating a reporting system for your business that could help in enhancing business security.
