The Cost of Doing Nothing

Now that we’re halfway through the year, decisions around budgets, capital outlays, and upcoming investments are being made, dominating leadership meeting conversations and negotiations. As security leaders, your department plays a crucial role in protecting the people and assets that your organization values.

So what happens when your department doesn’t invest in new technology or the staff required to meet this goal?

There’s a cost, of course. We call it the “cost of doing nothing” and it can be steep in the long run. It’s also not typically what comes to mind in budget discussions, but it’s a conversation that needs to be had.

Here’s what happens when security operations centers (SOCs) don’t:

Consolidate systems and processes.

When we talk about incidents from identification to acknowledgment to resolution, security operators might have to use 8 to 10 different applications from start to finish.

This might look like the following:

An operator receives an alarm from their access control system (ACS), and either has to verify it manually by finding the associated camera, or begin to document the alert in their incident management system.
Once they do, they might see that the person is trying to access an area of the building that’s prohibited.
As a new operator, they might need to look up what to do next in their standard operating procedures (SOPs), which live on their intranet (secure, private network that facilitates internal communication, collaboration, and information sharing).
They figure out they need to call a guard, so they pull up another spreadsheet that has who is on duty for that location, look up the number for that person, pick up the phone, and dial.
Once they get the person on the phone, they have to describe what they saw, and where they saw it, and provide all of this information quickly because the person of interest is inside the building.
The guard now has to find the person, determine whether emergency services need to be brought in (another spreadsheet that needs to be accessed by the operator), and so on.

Each and every step in this scenario takes precious time and effort to identify, triage, and respond with accuracy and urgency.

Think about doing this for hundreds of alarms that come into a global SOC (GSOC) from multiple locations. The burden on operators to navigate through multiple systems creates a strain on their ability to resolve incidents quickly and efficiently. The constant context-switching between applications is a recipe for burnout that can have a detrimental effect on the company’s ability to keep operators long-term, and the cost of training these operators can become a line item on your budget that might quickly grow past what you’ve allocated.

Reduce false alarms

In the world of security operations, "noise" refers to the countless false alarms that flood in, making it challenging for operators to discern which alerts require immediate attention. Legitimate security alerts can get lost in the midst of these false alarms, potentially leading to system overload and compromised security.

For example, operators may have to manually navigate through different systems to respond to alerts, such as accessing access control and video surveillance systems separately (see the example used above). The lack of synchronization among different systems further complicates the process, especially in organizations with multiple locations and various security solutions.

So, what causes these false alarms? The list is extensive, ranging from sensors not lining up and broken hardware to environmental factors like inclement weather or wildlife. Janitorial staff pushing on doors to clean them, even unexpected events such as shadows at different times of the day and animals triggering motion detectors contribute to the "noise" that operators have to filter through.

Streamline systems

Think of the scenario mentioned above of a GSOC operator going through multiple systems to identify, triage, and respond to an active incident. Doing this causes operators to have to figure out shortcuts to make things happen in that sequence more quickly and puzzle together all the systems on their own.

Now imagine this: you’re juggling reports in Excel, proprietary software, and scattered notes from site liaisons. The result is a tangled web of information that’s almost impossible to piece together effectively. You are left with a delayed and potentially inaccurate picture of your security situation.

But there’s a game-changer that can bring order to the chaos: data.

Use the right data to make decisions

Your security team is tirelessly working to identify, respond to, and track incidents. However, the manual, fragmented approach to managing these tasks can lead to inefficiencies and obscure the true effectiveness of your team. Different organizations have different needs, standards, and regulations to uphold, which makes the needs of security teams unique, triggering the need for customizable incident and security program reporting. Typically, these reports should give you a snapshot of incidents, response times, outcomes, and trends.

However, if your data isn’t accurate or consistent, you’re flying blind.

Prioritizing data-driven decisions allows security teams to better communicate program effectiveness to leadership and quickly identify areas for improvement. Funneling data through a centralized platform where a comprehensive picture of the state of your security program can be created becomes essential to realizing cost, time, and resource savings.

Leveraging HiveWatch

By now you know that navigating the complexities of security management can often feel like a juggling act, especially with the challenges of false alarms, disparate systems, and inefficient processes. But there is a way to address these common security pains with a single, unified approach: the HiveWatch® GSOC Operating System.

HiveWatch connects all your various systems into one seamless platform, completely transforming your security operations. This integrated approach evolves your security management into a streamlined, efficient, and scalable system. By connecting all of your tools and enabling simplified work, you can solve common security pains and create a more secure and resilient security operation.

It's time to see it all for yourself.