A typical security operations centre (SOC) has three core costs: People, data and tools. The total cost of these will vary dramatically based on factors like how many endpoints and users are in your environment and the number of SOC team members you need. Various SOC cost calculators available online put the cost of building a SOC for a 1000-user environment at upwards of £2 million per annum.

As organizations continue to digitize and passwords proliferate across systems, applications, and even assets, identity and access management (IAM) has become a pillar of cybersecurity. One component of IAM has, in particular, become ubiquitous with access security: multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA is an access control technique that adds a layer of security to user logins and access by making the user verify their identity.

Today, cybersecurity companies are in a never-ending race against cyber criminals, each seeking innovative new tactics to outpace the other. The newfound accessibility of generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) has revolutionized how people work, but it's also made threat actors more efficient. Attackers can now quickly create phishing messages or automate vulnerability discoveries.

As organizations across the globe grapple with the growing issue of cyber attacks — 2023 cybercrime costs are expected to hit $8 trillion — organizations are realizing that more than technical tools are needed to stay ahead of mounting threats. Even one mistake by an untrained employee can have serious consequences and result in a data breach.

It’s no surprise that cyber attacks are on the rise. The sheer volume of attacks — along with the increase in ransomware, business email compromise, and other kinds of attacks — has steadily ticked up year after year. Cybercrime is now the number one global business risk, rakes in trillions for cybercriminals, and has advanced far beyond simple “scam emails” and brute-force attacks.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has generated significant hype in recent years, and separating the promise from reality can be challenging. However, at Torq, AI is not just a concept. It is a reality that is revolutionizing the SOC field, specifically in the area of Tier-1 security analysis, especially as cybercriminals become more sophisticated in their tactics and techniques. Traditional security tools continue to fall short in detecting and mitigating these attacks effectively, particularly at scale.

As more employees move to remote work, more of today’s business environment is shifting towards the cloud. Indeed, approximately 90% of companies use at least one cloud-based service. While it brings great benefits, the cloud also brings challenges, including properly securing cloud-based assets. Cybercriminals are well-versed in corporate cloud usage and are successfully exploiting that knowledge. In the past year and a half, nearly 80% of companies suffered a cloud-based data breach.