A security operations center (SOC) monitors, detects, and responds to security incidents 24/7, ensuring that attacks are stopped before they disrupt your business. It’s a highly effective tool for preventing disastrous cyberattacks, but for many small and mid-sized businesses, cost becomes a concern. The big question is: is it more cost-effective to build an in-house SOC or outsource it to a managed IT services provider (MSP)?
While both approaches can enhance your security exponentially, outsourcing your SOC often delivers stronger protection at a fraction of the cost. Let’s explore why.
What is an outsourced security operations center?
An outsourced SOC is a cybersecurity service managed by a third-party provider that continuously monitors and protects your IT environment. Rather than hiring and maintaining a full internal team, your business partners with an MSP that typically provides 24/7 threat monitoring, analysis, and incident response.
Outsourced SOCs are staffed by experts who specialize in handling security for multiple clients across industries. As such, they can provide enterprise-grade protection that would be costly and complex for a small business to achieve on its own.
Outsourced SOC vs. in-house SOC: A cost comparison
Building an in-house SOC gives you direct control over your cybersecurity operations, but it comes with significant financial and operational burdens, increasing the total cost of ownership (TCO). Let’s break down the main cost areas:
Staffing costs
A fully functional SOC requires a team of security analysts, threat hunters, and incident responders working across multiple shifts to provide 24/7 coverage. Salaries for experienced cybersecurity professionals are high, and there’s no guarantee you can entice the best in the industry with your budget.
An outsourced SOC eliminates these costs by providing a complete team of certified experts at a predictable monthly rate.
Tools and technology
Running an in-house SOC means investing in high-end network protection tools for threat detection, log management, and incident response with steep licensing costs.
Outsourced SOCs include these tools as part of their service, allowing your business to access top-tier technology without the expensive and lengthy procurement process.
Training and certifications
Cybersecurity is constantly evolving, meaning in-house teams require ongoing training and certification to stay current with new threats and compliance requirements, which isn’t cheap.
Outsourced SOC providers absorb the costs of continuing education for their workforce, taking another expensive hassle off your plate.
Continuous coverage
If you operate an in-house SOC, you must manage shift rotations, holidays, and employee turnover, leading to coverage gaps. A managed SOC operates 24/7/365 with no downtime, thanks to their large talent pool. This means you’ll never be caught unprotected.
Maintenance and updates
Maintaining an internal SOC means constantly spending time and money on patching, hardware upgrades, and system tuning. Outsourced SOCs handle all these tasks for you, and the cost is included in your monthly subscription fee regardless of how much upkeep is done.
The risk benefits of an outsourced SOC
An outsourced SOC operates on a subscription-based model with predictable monthly fees and a lower TCO, but that’s not the only way it saves you money.
As mentioned above, an MSP providing outsourced SOC services maintains a deep talent pool of security experts who have access to top-tier training technology. Therefore, you can expect them to perform their function much better than the in-house team you manage to put together with whatever tools you can afford.
With their expert proactive threat detection, real-time response, and continuous monitoring, outsourced SOCs dramatically reduce your exposure to cyber incidents. This is a major advantage to your budget, as a single major breach can cost your business hundreds of thousands of dollars in recovery costs, legal fees, and reputational damage.
Furthermore, outsourced SOC operators provide detailed documentation on their security efforts, making it easier to prove your compliance efforts and avoid a costly audit by regulators of HIPAA, GDPR, and other data security laws.
Contact outsourceIT today for a FREE cybersecurity consultation. We’ll discuss how our SOC team can provide cost-effective, robust security services that minimize both your risk and cybersecurity expenditure.
