In today’s world of constant cyber threats, the security operations center, or SOC, is an organization’s central defense hub.
At the heart of every SOC is a resilient and engaged team of skilled professionals who play a critical role. This includes SOC engineers, the architects and maintainers of the systems, tools, and processes that enable SOC analysts to detect, investigate, and respond to threats effectively.
While SOC analysts are responsible for the operational side of incident detection and response, SOC engineers are the technical backbone of the SOC. They are accountable for building, fine-tuning, and maintaining the infrastructure, SIEM platforms, automation pipelines, and integrations that power modern security operations.
However, finding skilled SOC engineers is becoming increasingly difficult. And once you do, it’s critical to invest in effective training to maximize their performance and your organization’s ROI. In this blog, we’ll explore how to effectively train your SOC engineers, from foundational knowledge to advanced capabilities, including how to leverage advanced AI-enabled SOC tools.
Prerequisite skills and foundations
For SOC engineers to thrive in a high-functioning SOC, they need a solid foundation of both technical and soft skills. Both are essential for them to understand threats as well as to build, maintain, and optimize technical infrastructure that supports the entire SOC
Networking concepts
The majority of cyber threats involve some form of network-based activity. For example, knowledge of TCP/IP protocols is important to follow the flow of data between systems, detect anomalies, and troubleshoot communication issues. Experience with DNS is essential to thwart attacks such as DNS tunneling or domain spoofing.
Meanwhile, familiarity with HTTP/s protocols lets engineers analyze web traffic and identify threats like data infiltration and malicious script injection. Being able to handle VPNs and encrypted tunneling is necessary to recognize remote access techniques used by attackers to mask infiltrations
Operating systems
SOC engineers require strong operating system fluency in both Windows and Linux to effectively perform their duties. For Windows, this involves understanding system logs, registry changes, PowerShell usage, and services that can be used by both attackers and defenders. Similarly, Linux proficiency includes comfort with reading system logs, managing cron jobs, analyzing processes, and handling file permissions and access control.
A firm grasp of both operating systems empowers engineers to develop robust detection rules, thoroughly investigate suspicious activities, and provide valuable technical support during incident response.
Security fundamentals
The CIA triad (confidentiality, integrity, and availability) acts as the benchmark for evaluating how secure a system truly is. Engineers should be well versed in this to have a broader context of threats and defenses. They also need a working knowledge of firewalls and intrusion detection/prevention systems, as these form a key line of defense in the network.
Skills in encrypting data, both at rest and in transit, enable SOC engineers to safeguard sensitive data and support secure communications. Encryption also plays an important role in detecting malicious encryption used for data obfuscation and ransomware.
Analytical mindset
SOC engineers must be capable of breaking down complex technical problems. They need to be able to identify patterns across logs and data from various sources and resolve critical security issues in high-pressure/high-stakes environments. This is why analytical thinking underpins nearly every aspect of a SOC engineer’s role
Learn, adapt, and stay ahead of threats
Given the dynamic nature of cybersecurity, SOC engineers need to prioritize continuous learning. Threats evolve quickly, as do the tools used to detect and prevent them. This means it’s crucial to stay current with the latest vulnerabilities, attack techniques, and security technologies through ongoing training, certifications, and personal exploration (see below for recommended certifications).
Onboarding: Set the stage for success
Companies need a structured onboarding plan to smoothly integrate new SOC engineers into the team. For starters, they need an intro to the SOC’s mission, scope of responsibility, and success metrics.
Next, they need to understand the SOC’s processes and tooling, like SIEM, SOAR, and ticketing systems. Having new members shadow senior engineers and analysts is a great way for them to gain firsthand knowledge of your workflows, team communication, and incident-handling processes.
To function effectively, SOC engineers also need organizational context, i.e., how the security teams fit into the broader enterprise ecosystem. Having a clear picture of the roles, responsibilities, and access levels of all teams/departments in the broader organization will give new hires the required context for escalation metrics, dependencies, and tool ownership.
Pro tip: Mapping out the organization’s tech stack, including cloud platforms, endpoints, applications, and network infrastructure, will give engineers a clear picture of the systems they are defending.
Finally, provide SOC engineers access to threat playbooks, escalation procedures, past incident reports, and any other documentation available. These resources will provide clear context and reinforce best practices for incident handling, communication, and continuous improvement.
Certifications and specialization courses
SOC engineers should pursue credentials specifically aligned with their roles and growth plans.
Depending on an engineer’s specialization, there are numerous foundational certifications they can acquire. Top recommendations include:
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- CompTIA Security+
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- CompTIA CySA+
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- GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH)
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- Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)
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- Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK).
CySA+ and GCIH are valuable for defensive roles, while OSCP is great for those involved in threat hunting and red team activities. CCSK is recommended for engineers managing cloud security.
A focused learning path based on individual trajectories is key: Are they specialized in cloud security, automation, detection engineering, or adversary emulation? They also have to strike a balance between theory and real-world scenarios, applying their learning through practical projects, labs, and attack scenario simulations.
Tooling in the age of AI and LLMs
SOC engineers have to be proficient in the emerging ecosystem of AI/LLM-powered tools, in addition to conventional SOC tools. This takes in-depth technical knowledge and continuous learning.
Fundamental tools
Engineers need to master core technologies that form the operational base of any SOC. These include SIEM solutions, which are critical for aggregating, correlating, and analyzing security logs from across an organization’s infrastructure. Examples here are Splunk, Sentinel, and QRadar.
SOAR tools help automate repetitive tasks and speed up response times. For example, Palo Alto Networks’ Cortex XSOAR and Swimlane.
EDR/XDR, meanwhile, are crucial for gaining visibility into activity on endpoints and containing threats when they occur. CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, and Microsoft Defender are all options in this category.
Lastly, network monitoring mandates tools for capturing and analyzing network traffic data. This includes detecting and preventing network intrusions so that engineers can identify and respond to suspicious network behavior. Examples here are Wireshark, Snort, and SolarWinds NPM.
Practical skills development
To enhance their tooling capabilities and spark innovation, SOC engineers should have access to high-quality cyber ranges and simulation environments. Capture the flag challenges, red vs. blue team exercises, and internal test labs should be leveraged to promote hands-on learning and foster problem-solving.
These environments bridge the gap between training and real-world scenarios. They offer opportunities for SOC engineers to experiment with configurations, simulate attacks, and practice responses without jeopardizing live systems.
Advanced capabilities
As AI tools mature, SOC engineers are required to be familiar with AI-powered tools. For example, AI-powered triage systems use ML models to triage alerts and prioritize threats. Then you have LLMs, which enhance day-to-day activities in a SOC, be it log analysis, incident summarization, or even response playbook generation.
Upping your game with Radiant
Radiant Security’s adaptive AI SOC platform is a perfect tool for your SOC arsenal. Its cutting-edge AI-powered capabilities cover automated alert triage, potential impact investigation across environments, and remedial recommendations. The platform also supports a wide range of security alert types and use cases.
As to adapting to different sources, Radiant is fully agnostic and requires zero pre-training for each use case or alert type. It also eliminates false positives, meaning only real threats are escalated. It will even automate existing escalation chains and approval processes, making sure affected users and stakeholders stay informed via your existing communication tools.
Its modern architecture, meanwhile, offers powerful log management capabilities, with unlimited retention for compliance and forensic investigation. Users also enjoy lightning-fast querying and visualizations, without the prohibitive cost of traditional SIEMs
In terms of time-to-value, Radiant takes just minutes to deploy, delivering results similar to a seasoned analyst immediately.
Building a resilient SOC team for long-term success
Training SOC engineers is not a one-time task. It’s a long-term investment to boost the strength and resilience of your security operations. To be successful demands a thoughtful blend of technical training, domain knowledge, supportive mentorship, and a culture that promotes growth and accountability.
Focus areas should include continuous learning, feedback loops, and cross-training (across roles and domains) to build a versatile team capable of adapting to changing threats.
Still, even once a SOC engineer is fully trained, the overwhelming volume of alerts means that real threats will slip through with all the noise.
That’s where Radiant’s AI SOC platform steps in. It dynamically triages all alerts (for all security use cases), escalating only the true positives and providing remediation recommendations that can be executed with a single click or fully automated once confidence has been established in Radiant. This means your SOC team will never miss real threats and will be able to focus on proactive security instead of drowning in alert triage.
See Radiant in action for yourself. Book a demo today.
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