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"The findings of the Ponemon Economics of the SOC report show that organizations are facing an onslaught of rising security operations costs, but despite these increased investments, are still unhappy with their ability to combat growing cyberthreats," said
Perceived ROI of the SOC Drops, While Costs Rise
The ROI of SOC investments have been worsening, due to increasing complexity and rising security engineering and management outsourcing costs.
Perceived ROI of the SOC is Dropping Due to Management Complexity: More than half (51 percent) of respondents say the ROI of the SOC is getting worse, compared to 44 percent in 2019. More than 80 percent rate their SOC's complexity as very high, rising from 74 percent in 2019.
Rising Outsourcing Costs Lessen Appeal: The cost to pay MSSPs for security monitoring also increased and may impact ROI. The average cost for respondents is
High Security Engineering Costs Aren't Resolving Needs: Organizations surveyed are spending an average of
SOC Workers Unhappy, Despite Increasing Salaries
Even with increasing salaries, organizations are not able to boost employee morale.
Security Analyst Morale Impacted by Long Hours and Demanding Work: 85 percent of respondents say working in the SOC is painful or very painful, with this sentiment growing from 72 percent in 2019. Increasing workloads and being on call are overwhelming security analysts, with 75 percent saying that these factors cause burnout, rising from 70 percent in 2019.
SOCs Can't Meet the Rate of Security Analyst Turnover: Despite organizations surveyed expecting to hire an average of five analysts in 2021, three will resign or be fired in one year. Organizations are increasing security analyst salaries, with the average rising from
New Technology Investments Show Promise
However, increasing investments in new XDR and security automation tools show promise to reduce security engineering costs, boost SOC performance and employee morale.
XDR and Security Automation Budgets are Increasing: Organizations are investing in XDR as an emerging category to improve SOC performance. Organizations surveyed intended to spend an average of
The SOC is Key for Maintaining Security Posture
Despite current ROI perception, respondents noted that the SOC is more important than ever to having a strong security posture.
The SOC is Essential: The number of respondents who said their SOC is essential or very important increased from 73 percent last year to 80 percent now. Meanwhile, the most important SOC activities are: Minimizing false positives reporting (88 percent); having agile DevOps functions (increasing from 73 to 85 percent); and automating machine learning tools (increasing from 72 to 80 percent).
Additional Report Resources Ponemon Study Methodology
In 2019, this report was sponsored by
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