SOC stands for Security Operations Center. It is the team and tooling responsible for monitoring an organization’s IT environment, identifying threats, and responding to security incidents.

A SOC proactively monitors and alerts by collecting and analyzing threat data from an array of sources: firewalls, intrusion detection systems, intrusion prevention systems, SIEM systems, and threat intelligence platforms. Think of it as the nerve center of an organization’s cybersecurity defense, operating 24/7 to detect and contain threats before they cause damage.