Whether you’ve already outsourced your businesses cybersecurity operations or are taking your first steps in finding a provider, you face a crucial decision: which security solution is best? You’ve probably found so many different services and acronyms that it’s starting to feel like an impossible task.
That’s why we’ve decided to break down two options to help you narrow down the list. This will be a comparison between Managed SOC (Security Operations Centre) and Managed XDR (eXtended Detection and Response). Hopefully this will guide you in finding the right solution to match your cybersecurity strategy and business objectives.
Table of Contents
- What are the options?
- Managed SOC explained
- Pros of Managed SOC
- Cons of Managed SOC
- Managed XDR explained
- Pros of Managed XDR
- Cons of Managed XDR
- Comparison table
- CloudGuard Managed XDR
- Wrapping up
What are the options?
Managed SOC or SOC as a Service (SOCaaS) offers a cloud-based subscription model for managed threat detection and response, providing round-the-clock monitoring, analysis, and prevention of cyber threats across diverse attack surfaces. On the other hand, Managed XDR integrates Managed SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and SOC capabilities, using the latest advances in AI and automation to make threat detection, analyse and response faster than humanly possible.
Now we’ll take a look at each approach in a bit more detail, exploring their features, benefits, and potential challenges.
Managed SOC explained
Managed SOC services come in various forms. You could either outsource your security operations to Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs) operating in the cloud or opt for Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services that combine automated processes with direct human involvement. These services aim to monitor your threat landscape, including IT networks, devices, applications, endpoints, and data, for both known and evolving vulnerabilities, threats, and risks.
One of the main reasons organisations turn to Managed SOC solutions is to remove the burden on internal security teams and gain access to expert security capabilities that may be lacking in-house. According to research, a significant percentage of organisations believe that managed service providers can provide better security operations and strengthen their existing SOC teams. Additionally, managed SOC services offer continuous monitoring, faster detection and response times, and can help reduce alert fatigue.
Despite these benefits, challenges exist when introducing managed SOC services. These challenges include the lack of visibility and context, increased complexity of investigations, integration issues, and the inability to collect, process, and contextualise threat intelligence data effectively. Onboarding with a managed SOC provider can be time-consuming, and sharing critical data with a third-party provider raises concerns about data security and privacy.
Pros of Managed SOC:
- Removes burden on internal security teams
- Access to expert security capabilities
- Continuous monitoring
- Faster detection and response times
- Helps reduce alert fatigue
Cons of Managed SOC:
- Lack of visibility and context
- Increased complexity of investigations
- Integration issues
- Inability to collect, process, and contextualise threat intelligence data effectively
- Time-consuming onboarding process
- Data security and privacy concerns when sharing critical data with a third-party provider
Managed XDR explained
Managed XDR is the one of the newer cybersecurity services available today. It uses advanced technologies such as AI and security automation to streamline threat detection and response capabilities. By combining Managed SIEM with Managed SOC functionalities, Managed XDR solutions offers a fresh approach to cybersecurity – enabling proactive threat hunting, faster response times, and enhanced coverage.
The key advantage of Managed XDR lies in its AI and automation abilities coupled with human expertise. By analysing vast amounts of data and identifying patterns indicative of malicious activity, Managed XDR solutions can reduce dwell time, minimise false positives, and improve overall security posture. Managed XDR can help your organisation to stay ahead of evolving threats by proactively identifying vulnerabilities and conducting thorough investigations into potential security incidents.
Managed XDR solutions offer seamless scalability and agility, allowing your organisation to adapt to changing threat landscapes and compliance requirements with ease. By outsourcing security operations to Managed XDR providers, you can access expert security expertise and technologies without the need for substantial investments in internal resources. Alert fatigue, talent gaps and high operational costs can be eliminated with Managed XDR.
Managed XDR is not without its challenges. Onboarding with a Managed XDR provider may require time and resources, and organisations must be willing trust the capabilities of a third-party provider. You will have to check what happens to your data as storing data externally raises concerns about data security and privacy. You’ll need to consider the risks and benefits of outsourcing security operations to Managed XDR providers.
Pros of Managed XDR
- AI and automation capabilities coupled with human expertise
- Reduced dwell time and minimised false positives
- Improved overall security posture
- Proactive identification of vulnerabilities
- Seamless scalability and agility
- Frees up your internal resources to focus on strategic tasks and objectives
- Access to expert security expertise and technologies without substantial investments
Cons of Managed XDR
- Time and resource-intensive onboarding process
- Trusting capabilities of a third-party provider
- Data security and privacy concerns when storing data externally
- Need to carefully consider risks and benefits of outsourcing security operations
Comparison table
| Managed SOC | Managed XDR | |
| Pros | ||
| – Removes burden on internal security teams | – AI and automation capabilities coupled with human expertise | |
| – Access to expert security capabilities | – Reduced dwell time and minimized false positives | |
| – Continuous monitoring | – Improved overall security posture | |
| – Faster detection and response times | – Proactive identification of vulnerabilities | |
| – Helps reduce alert fatigue | – Seamless scalability and agility | |
| – Access to expert security expertise and technologies without substantial investments | ||
| Cons | ||
| – Lack of visibility and context | – Time and resource-intensive onboarding process | |
| – Increased complexity of investigations | – Trusting capabilities of a third-party provider | |
| – Integration issues | – Data security and privacy concerns when storing data externally | |
| – Inability to collect, process, and contextualise threat intelligence data effectively | – Need to carefully consider risks and benefits of outsourcing security operations |
CloudGuard Protect Managed XDR
Allow us a moment to quickly plug CloudGuard’s Managed XDR service. We centre everything around Microsoft Sentinel SIEM. Here, we unify all of your security logs (including but not limited to on-prem and cloud infrastructure, devices, users, email, applications and operational technology) using our extensive library of out-of-the-box and custom data connectors.
We then bring our knowledge of automation and AI to this Managed SIEM solution to provide faster threat detection, analysis, and response times. We automatically ingest threat intelligence data into every alert to enrich our understanding of threats and incidents. Where we can’t fully solve incidents through AI and automation, our SOC Analysts (Managed SOC) are ready to provide the in-depth knowledge and critical thinking that only humans can provide.
The best part is that all of this happens within your Microsoft tenant – we’ll either deploy or optimise your Sentinel instance and keep everything in your cloud.
Wrapping up Managed SOC vs Managed XDR
Both Managed SOC and Managed XDR offer credible solutions if you’re looking to improve your organisation’s cybersecurity posture. While Managed SOC provides comprehensive threat detection and response capabilities, Managed XDR represents a greater step forward, using advanced technologies to reduce drastically reduce threat detection and response times. Ultimately, the choice between Managed SOC and Managed XDR depends on yours needs and objectives. If you haven’t created a brief detailing your requirements and preferred outcomes, that’s probably the best place to start.
If you’re a bit stuck with your brief or your cybersecurity strategy in general, we offer cybersecurity consulting services to get you started, including security posture assessments and CISO advisory services.
By weighing up the features, benefits, and potential challenges of Managed SOC and Managed XDR, you can make an informed decisions to protect the invaluable data, assets, finances, reputation and people within your business.
