Security operations center ? A need for an academic environment

Academic Institutes are considered as a backbone of any country. Security of its information resources (academic and research) is of paramount importance. The statistics have shown that academic institutions are among the top three targets for cybercrimes. There are many security steps that are taken by institutes to address this challenge. Firewalls, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) are some of the security controls that are deployed to circumvent these threats. However, the sophistication and novelty in the attacks make the normal security procedures inadequate. To fulfill the changing requirements of information security, the institutes need to invest in developing the Security Operation Centers (SOC). SOC is a comprehensive infrastructure that works in tandem with Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) to manage the security operations of the organization. SOC can provide better coordinated security and rapid response against threats and vulnerabilities throughout the networks. This paper highlights the need of establishing a SOC in academic institutes.