Do not get me wrong. Managing security operations is not easy even in normal circumstances let alone in a crisis like this. If you have ever been a part of security operation centers, you might be familiar with the challenge. Your security operations team is accustomed to working in the same room but now they are forced to work remotely with each member present in a different location.
How can you manage them effectively in such a situation? In this article, you will learn four valuable lessons from the security operations center during this COVID-19 pandemic.
1. Stay Connected Round the Clock
One of the main purposes of shifting your security team members to security operations center is to facilitate open communication. This can be easy especially when all your team members are in the same room but not so much when they are working remotely. This increases the risk of communication blackouts, which can lead to misunderstandings and errors.
That is why it is important for managers to keep their communication channels always open. Inquire what your remote workers are currently working on to start the conversation. You can also conduct meeting with every individual separately or arrange a group meeting by using communication tools.
2. Prepare Staff To Wear Different Hats
There is an acute shortage of talented cybersecurity staff. This means that you will have to train your IT team members to play multiple roles simultaneously. You might have to monitor IT operations while overseeing endpoint monitoring and security. Invest in organizing training sessions to increase awareness and prepare them for wearing multiple hats at once.
3. Maintain Your Security Culture
Successful CIOs strive to create a security culture in their organization. You might have worked so hard to develop such a culture, but it might take a back seat when your team is working remotely. As a security leader, you should do everything to prevent that from happening.
Protect your remote teams by implementing stringent policies and ensure that these policies are implemented properly. You can also ask your remote workers to use a business VPN to keep their browsing sessions private. Use a strong password policy and two factor authentications for added security. Secure your top talent and try to prepare future security leaders from your own team by honing their skills.
4. Follow Supply Chain Model For SOC
Have you ever studied the supply chains of online and physical stores such as Walmart and Amazon? If you have, you might see amazing efficiency in their supply chain processes, which is one of the main reasons behind their success. You can adopt the same model they follow and manage operations centrally through your security operations center. To do this, you will have to optimize your processes to make them more efficient and integrate systems at every level. Security leaders should look at how processes are flowing and optimize them for seamless operations.
What lessons did you learned from security operations center? Share it with us in the comments section below.