the real-world expectations for a junior SOC analyst
Use SOC sense to Alert Triage
Your primary responsibility will be monitoring security alerts and events, determining which alerts require immediate attention and which can be handled later or dismissed.
Many security alerts can turn out to be false positives, meaning they do not represent actual security incidents. As a junior analyst, you will need to investigate alerts to determine if they are genuine threats or false positives, which helps to reduce unnecessary alert fatigue.
To identify potential security incidents, you should be proficient in analyzing log files and network traffic from different security tools and systems such as SIEM, IDS, EDR, firewall, hosts with different operating systems.
Escalate and Collaborate for Incident Response
You will escalate critical alerts or incidents to more experienced analysts of your SOC team for a coordinated response efforts to ensure a swift and effective resolution.
You will assist in investigating security incidents by collecting and analyzing relevant logs, network traffic, or system artifacts to identify the root cause, scope, and impact of the incident. And work alongside with external stakeholders and incident responders to contain and mitigate the incident by isolating compromised systems or implementing temporary countermeasures, usually the process follows an organization's predefined Incident Response Playbook.
You will be expected to document accurate and detailed records of your analysis, investigation findings, and any steps taken for incident response or remediation. To get involved in further process, you will need to upskill with relevant industry trends and technologies. As you gain experience and demonstrate proficiency in these areas, you can expect to take on more advanced responsibilities and progress in your career within the SOC field.
High volume of overwhelming alerts, repetitive reviewing and categorizing, the pressure to respond quickly and effectively to incidents, rapidly evolving threat landscape and irregular work hours are the nature of this job’
