What is SOC as a Service?
SOC as a Service is outsourced 24×7 threat detection, triage, and incident response, delivered by a managed security service provider. The MSSP runs the SIEM, tunes the detection rules, monitors alerts around the clock, escalates confirmed incidents on agreed SLAs (Infilux's is 15 minutes for critical), and provides monthly reporting. It is the fastest path to mature SOC capability for organisations that lack the headcount or 24×7 coverage to build one internally.
A modern Security Operations Centre is expensive to build: a 24×7 tier-1 monitoring rotation needs at least 5 analysts; a tier-2 incident response capability needs at least 3 senior engineers; a SIEM (Splunk, Sentinel, Chronicle) requires ongoing rule-tuning and licensing; threat intelligence subscriptions cost tens of thousands per year. The total all-in cost for an entry-level internal SOC routinely exceeds ₹2-3 crore / year in India and $750K-1M+ in the US.
SOC as a Service collapses that into a monthly subscription. The MSSP brings the team, the platform, and the playbooks. The customer brings the log sources and the operating-runbook context. Most engagements include SIEM tuning, threat hunting, monthly executive reporting, and 24×7 escalation. Higher tiers add proactive deception (honeypots), MITRE ATT&CK coverage scoring, and integration with your IR retainer for major-incident response.
The key SLAs to negotiate: time-to-acknowledge for critical alerts (typically 5-15 minutes), mean-time-to-triage (under 30 minutes), and mean-time-to-containment for actionable incidents (under 4 hours). Watch for vendors that meter alerts rather than ingest volume — alert metering creates a perverse incentive to tune detections looser to avoid charges.
Key points
- 24×7 monitoring, triage, escalation — no internal headcount required.
- MSSP runs SIEM (Splunk / Sentinel / Chronicle / ELK) and tunes detection rules.
- SLA structure: time-to-acknowledge, mean-time-to-triage, mean-time-to-contain.
- Includes monthly executive reporting and MITRE ATT&CK coverage tracking.
- Typical onboarding: 4–6 weeks to integrate log sources, baseline normal, and tune rules.