1/5/24, 11:54 AM Difference between NOC and SOC | Technology and information documentation reference
Difference between NOC and SOC centers
Difference between NOC and SOC centers
Working in the field of cyber security is full of new changes and surprises every day. In information security,
just like on a football field, if we don't understand the shape of the game, the type of demands and tendencies
of our competitors, we can no longer understand the risks to our organization.
To remain competitive in the modern business world, organizations must provide users with a high-level
online experience. In practical terms, this means that its website, applications or other online services should
be both easy and bug-free. More importantly, they need to be fully confident in their security and protection
against cyber attacks.
Even after all the recent intrusions and successful hacking attacks, many companies and organizations still
ignore important security guidelines. In addition, many organizations underestimate cyber intruders who are
always at least two or three steps ahead of organizations.
To achieve these goals and against today's cyber threat environment, all companies and organizations must be
active in maintaining their online performance and policies against malicious activities. The best way to do
this is to organize and create teams that are responsible for these tasks, i.e. NOC and SOC. Both of these
units have become fairly common in the modern business world, but there is still confusion about what their
specific roles are and how they differ.
In previous articles, you have become familiar with the general concepts of cyber security operation centers
and their functions, as well as the organizational structure and different types of these centers. In this article,
we aim to clear up this confusion by explaining the difference between NOC and Security Operations Center
(SOC).
Most companies have adopted a "monitor and respond" cybersecurity strategy. This strategy is generally
implemented in a Security Operations Center (SOC) or a Network Operations Center (NOC). In most
organizations, SOC and NOC complement each other's functions.
Although the roles of SOC and NOC are very similar, they are fundamentally different. SOC and NOC are
responsible for identifying, investigating, prioritizing, escalating, and resolving issues, but the types of issues
and their impacts are significantly different in the two. Is.
www.itref.ir/post-29 1/4
1/5/24, 11:54 AM Difference between NOC and SOC | Technology and information documentation reference
While both of these units are of great importance to any organization, combining SOC and NOC in one entity
and having one of them can make the other functions face disaster; Because their approaches and skill sets
required to manage them are very different.
While the NOC focuses on maintaining the performance and availability of the organization's online
infrastructure, the SOC (Security Operations Center) focuses on maintaining the integrity and safety of online
assets. This includes the protection of things such as sensitive data belonging to the organization as well as
any information of customers and other stakeholders, which should protect them from intrusion and attack by
hackers and cybercriminals.
What is NOC?
The NOC handles events and alerts that affect performance and availability. The NOC's job is to meet
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and manage incidents in a way that minimizes downtime. It focuses on
availability and performance.
NOC stands for Network Operation Center. Its task is to ensure the performance and availability of the online
network. The NOC must control, manage, and correct problems related to the IT infrastructure, including
databases, servers, and virtual machines. If the website, applications, servers, or network are down, it is the
NOC's job to identify the issue, fix it, and get them back up and running.
Other NOC responsibilities include:
Continuous monitoring and evaluation of network performance
Report issues and potential recommendations for improvement
Timely response to outage incidents
Planning to increase capacity and overload
Determining the steps to increase speed and warning other parts of the company
Most NOCs operate through a central control room, where all aspects of a company's online operations can
be controlled and manipulated simultaneously. Given that a significant portion of business has been
conducted online for years, NOCs are a fairly common entity among most companies.
What is SOC?
The Security Operations Center (SOC) handles incidents and alerts that affect the security of information
assets. Its primary role is to protect intellectual property and sensitive customer data from cyber threats.
www.itref.ir/post-29 2/4
1/5/24, 11:54 AM Difference between NOC and SOC | Technology and information documentation reference
These threats can come from inside or outside the organization, often in the form of phishing emails,
malware, intrusion attempts, and other suspicious behavior. In order to prevent these attacks and access to
sensitive information, the SOC must be alert at all times and track possible threats from the time they occur
and deal with them if necessary.
Some of the main responsibilities of the SOC include:
Data leak tracking
Evaluating the security strength of new software
Continuously updating the settings of firewalls and other security tools
Stay up-to-date with the latest trends and innovations in the world of cyber security
The measures taken are designed to combat Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks
Periodic performance evaluation and penetration testing and continuous improvement of online
defense walls
To learn more, refer to the SOC introduction page.
The difference between NOC and SOC
An NOC analyst must be skilled in network, application, and systems engineering, while SOC analysts need
security engineering skills.
SOC focuses on "intelligent adversaries" while NOC deals more with and resolves natural events.
Consequently, both SOC and NOC are required to work together but in relation to each other.
To better understand the operation of these two operation centers, consider the following illustration:
www.itref.ir/post-29 3/4
1/5/24, 11:54 AM Difference between NOC and SOC | Technology and information documentation reference
The NOC is very similar to the central nervous system in your body and controls and maintains the various
activities you need to function. Meanwhile, SOC is comparable to your body's immune system, protecting it
from viruses and bacteria that can threaten the body's ongoing functioning. Although the overall goal of both
systems is to maintain the body's survival and improve its performance, each of them is responsible for
separate aspects to achieve this goal.
Now, citing another example, we explain the difference between SOC and NOC centers:
Suppose you have a busy highway, where different cars are moving on this highway (network platform and
communication cables)
NOC's task: taking care of road safety and health, repairing road damage in the shortest possible time,
monitoring the health of road monitoring equipment, controlling and monitoring traffic volume, and so on. In
more general terms, the task of ensuring the correct operation of the network.
SOC's role: It is like a police force that monitors the road, identifies risky behaviors of drivers, controls
entrances and exits to the road, monitors road safety and even monitors the contents of cars.
In other words, the NOC network operation center lacks a method for centralized management of security
incidents. The primary activity of the NOC Network Operations Center is to maintain and ensure the integrity
and health of the organization's network and infrastructure, while the Security Operations Center (SOC) is
responsible for managing security incidents in order to protect the network. Therefore, in order to increase
the efficiency and effectiveness of organizations, through appropriate response to security incidents such as
viruses and attacks that lead to the loss of network integrity, the presence of this center next to the NOC
network operation center will be very effective.
www.itref.ir/post-29 4/4
