Starting your career as a SOC analyst is advantageous because it is the most entry-level position in cybersecurity, with frequent job openings. Many professionals in the field begin their careers in the SOC, gaining valuable technical experience and foundational knowledge.

The salary for a SOC analyst varies based on the employer. Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs) typically offer $60-80k for entry-level positions, while other companies may pay $70-90k. After approximately two years, SOC analysts can advance to Senior SOC Analyst roles, which generally pay over $100k. For more detailed salary information, please visit our website or contact us at tyler@cybernoweducation.com.

A highly recommended book is 'Jump-start Your SOC Analyst Career: A Roadmap to Cybersecurity Success,' available in various formats, including an audiobook on Audible. Exploring other cybersecurity literature can also provide valuable insights.

SOC analysts can leverage AI in several ways: 1. **Using Prebuilt Large Language Models (LLMs):** Tools like ChatGPT can assist in your work, but be cautious about entering sensitive data, as it may be saved and used to improve the model. Avoid sharing proprietary information. 2. **AI-Enhanced Products:** Many cybersecurity tools now include AI features. If your company has licensed these tools, use them to save time, but always review AI-generated suggestions for accuracy. 3. **Custom Chatbots:** Custom chatbots built on public models may share data with the AI creators. Get approval before using any custom bots to ensure compliance with data policies. 4. **Custom-Trained LLMs:** Competitors to ChatGPT, like DeepSeek, offer custom-trained models. Use these only if your company owns the data they are trained on to avoid similar risks.

Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) refers to the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information about potential or existing cyber threats. It helps organizations understand their threat landscape by identifying indicators of compromise (IoCs), tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by threat actors.

CTI is derived from multiple sources, including open-source intelligence (OSINT), dark web monitoring, security feeds, malware analysis, and industry reports. It enables proactive defense strategies by identifying emerging threats before they can cause harm.

It's important to remember the average IoC lifetime is only four hours.

It greatly varies from place to place. A prerequisite for automating something is having the process defined. If a process is defined, it's likely written down somewhere. If they are further down the road with their automation journey than its likely they have things written down. This day and age, almost all companies at least have their most common alerts documented.

Yes, SOC analysts usually work in shifts because Security Operations Centers (SOCs) operate 24/7/365. Staffing these centers requires strict shift schedules.

If you are customer-facing, you will likely handle many phone calls. This means that if you work for a company that sells cybersecurity, like an MSSP, you're likely to answer inbound calls. If you are working for an internal SOC, then the calls will be much less frequent, and you may just be on a call rotation and only answer a few calls if any.

One of the most challenging aspects of being a SOC analyst is understanding why certain business decisions may compromise security. It can take years to accept that businesses often make informed decisions to take risks for greater rewards. The role of security is to enable the business by assessing and managing these risks. Additionally, while the technical demands of being a SOC analyst have decreased due to advanced tools, understanding the business context and making informed security decisions remain challenging. For more insights, check out our resources or contact us at tyler@cybernoweducation.com.

Remote roles account for 33% of all true entry-level jobs that we have seen. The competition for them is immense. It's much easier to get a job if you live near an office location because the company has already decided that they want to hire local talent, and there is just less of that. My advice to get a remote job is to make sure you're spending an inordinate amount of time networking online, writing your blog, and making yourself human so people see you online as a person with a personality and that they want the specific you that there is only one of. Because of all the great qualities you have. You have to build your own personal brand. Something we talk about in the SOC JOB NOW! course.

Everyone should start out at the SOC and work two years as a SOC analyst (these are just estimated timeframes) to go miles wide and an inch deep on all domains of cybersecurity. They should get promoted or switch jobs to get to Senior SOC Analyst. When they become Senior SOC Analyst, their pay will be in the six figures, and they should spend a year as a Senior SOC Analyst and decide if they want to go into a specialty or go into management. If they decide they want to go into management, they should become a Lead SOC Analyst, which is a supervisory position, if they want to choose a specialty, then start looking for the domain of cybersecurity that interests them the most. After three years in the SOC, they'll know what they like and don't like. You're also not tied down to any one specialty for the entirety of your career. The career progression for an individual contributor goes from Analyst to Engineer to Architect in 10 years.

I recommend that people whose visas are running out pursue a helpdesk role while pursuing a SOC analyst role. Getting a help desk role is much easier than getting a SOC analyst role as there are many more jobs. Once you have a helpdesk role, your visa can be extended while your finding the right SOC analyst job.

There are no shortcuts to gaining hands-on cybersecurity experience. The only way to continue to advance and speed up the process is to get a helpdesk role. Some of that experience translates into cybersecurity experience, and it gets you paid now. If you want to become a helpdesk technician, then an A+ certification would certainly help you. If you're like most people, you'll need a job now, while you're working towards your dream job.

A SOC Analyst needs a balance of technical, analytical, and professional skills to succeed on the front lines of cybersecurity. On the technical side, they must be comfortable using SIEM tools like Splunk or QRadar to monitor logs and alerts, understand core networking concepts such as TCP/IP, firewalls, and VPNs, and work confidently in both Windows and Linux environments to investigate incidents. They also need to recognize common threats like malware, phishing, and brute-force attacks, and know how to respond effectively by triaging alerts, containing threats, and escalating critical issues. Scripting in Python, PowerShell, or Bash is not always required but is highly valuable for automating repetitive tasks and parsing data quickly. Just as important are strong analytical skills—being able to spot patterns, evaluate whether an alert is a false positive, prioritize responses, and pay close attention to detail. Soft skills matter too: SOC Analysts must communicate clearly in reports, collaborate with their team, and remain calm under pressure during live incidents. Because cyber threats evolve daily, continuous learning is a must, often supported by certifications like CompTIA Security+ or Splunk Core Certified User. Hands-on practice through labs, cyber ranges, and capture-the-flag challenges, combined with portfolio projects such as incident reports or malware analyses, can give aspiring SOC Analysts the practical experience needed to land and excel in the role.

The time it takes to train as a SOC Analyst really depends on your starting point, how deep you want to go, and the type of training program you choose.

For a complete beginner, focused training programs can prepare you for an entry-level SOC role in as little as 3 to 6 months, especially if you’re studying part-time while balancing work or school. These programs typically focus on the essentials—security fundamentals, SIEM tools like Splunk, log analysis, networking basics, and incident response.

If you already have some IT or networking background, the timeline can be shorter—sometimes just 8 to 12 weeks of intensive, hands-on training is enough to get job-ready. On the other end, a more in-depth path that includes certifications, advanced labs, and portfolio projects could stretch to 9 to 12 months, which is common for learners who want to stand out with stronger credentials.

The key is hands-on practice. SOC analyst work isn’t just theory—it’s about recognizing threats in real logs, responding to incidents, and thinking critically under pressure. That’s why platforms like Cyber NOW Education emphasize cyber ranges, live data, and capture-the-flag challenges to accelerate readiness. With consistent effort, even a newcomer to cybersecurity can go from zero to job-ready in under a year.

The SOC Analyst roadmap in 2025, as it applies to Cyber NOW® Education, is designed to take someone with no cybersecurity background and guide them step by step into a job-ready SOC role using a mix of structured courses, hands-on labs, and gamified challenges. Learners begin with the foundations through SOC Analyst NOW, a beginner-friendly path that introduces the core responsibilities of an analyst, the structure of a Security Operations Center, and fundamental concepts like the CIA triad, common attack types, and frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK. At this stage, Cyber NOW® emphasizes plain-language teaching, simple labs, and early exposure to SIEM tools like Splunk so beginners can start recognizing real alerts without being overwhelmed. Certificates earned here help validate progress and provide immediate value on a resume.

Once the fundamentals are in place, Cyber NOW® accelerates the roadmap by providing access to live cyber ranges and guided labs that simulate attacks and defenses. This is where learners begin to practice log analysis, incident triage, and alert investigation in realistic scenarios. Gamified capture-the-flag challenges are layered in to make learning engaging while sharpening skills in pattern recognition, detection, and response. At this stage, students begin building a portfolio of graded projects, incident reports, and lab deliverables that can be showcased to potential employers. Cyber NOW® also introduces specialized tracks like Cloud Security NOW, Zero Trust NOW, and Human Hacking NOW, which align with the growing demand in 2025 for analysts who can handle cloud-based threats, modern security frameworks, and social engineering attacks.

As learners progress further into the roadmap, they transition from reacting to alerts into proactively hunting for threats. Cyber NOW® supports this stage with advanced storyline-based CTFs, deeper Splunk investigations, and labs that mirror real-world malware analysis and digital forensics. Students gain experience with scripting and automation in Python, PowerShell, or Bash, all while learning how to integrate threat intelligence into their investigations. With the Black Badge Membership, learners have lifetime access to these resources, ensuring they can keep up with evolving skills well beyond their first SOC role.

The final stage of the Cyber NOW® roadmap focuses on employability and career growth. Graduates can leverage Cyber NOW®’s SOC Analyst job board, spotlight features, and leaderboards to gain visibility in the industry. They also gain access to continuous live and recorded webinars, ensuring they stay updated on the latest trends in automation, AI-driven alert triage, and compliance requirements. To combat burnout—a major issue for SOC teams—Cyber NOW® integrates the Secure Style Store, offering creative and practical products designed to help analysts stay motivated and balanced.

In short, the 2025 SOC Analyst roadmap through Cyber NOW® Education begins with beginner-friendly fundamentals, moves into labs and cyber ranges for hands-on practice, expands into advanced detection and specialization, and culminates with career support, certifications, and resources that make learners job-ready while preparing them for long-term success.

A Splunk cyber range inside Cyber NOW® Education is a hands-on training environment built to simulate the real-world conditions of a Security Operations Center, where learners can practice monitoring, detecting, and responding to cyber threats using Splunk as their primary tool. Instead of relying on static examples or theory, the range streams live attack data generated from honeypots and simulated adversary activity, giving students a realistic look at the types of alerts, logs, and anomalies that actual SOC Analysts work with every day.

In this environment, learners can query logs, investigate suspicious activity, and build dashboards in Splunk to visualize patterns and uncover threats. The cyber range is designed to replicate everything from simple brute-force login attempts to advanced attacks, giving learners experience in triaging alerts, filtering false positives, and escalating genuine incidents. It allows students to apply skills they learn in courses like SOC Analyst NOW directly in a safe, contained lab where mistakes become part of the learning process.

What makes Cyber NOW® Education’s Splunk cyber range unique is its portfolio-building approach. Students don’t just practice in isolation; they complete guided investigations, generate incident reports, and submit graded projects that mimic the work employers expect from analysts. This means every exercise can become a portfolio piece that proves real-world ability. Coupled with gamified capture-the-flag challenges and storyline-driven labs, the Splunk cyber range makes learning engaging while still focused on building job-ready skills.

In short, the Splunk cyber range is Cyber NOW® Education’s way of giving learners the “flight simulator” of cybersecurity: a controlled, repeatable environment where they can safely experience real attacks, master SIEM workflows, and develop the confidence needed to handle security incidents on the job.

SOC analysts rely on a handful of repeatable Splunk SPL patterns to find, triage, and prove threats, and most of them boil down to filtering the right data, summarizing it, and then flagging what’s rare, new, or excessive. Typical starting points include failed sign-ins, suspicious process starts, unusual network egress, and odd DNS. For brute-force and spray activity, you’ll often see queries like index=wineventlog (EventCode=4625 OR EventCode=4624) | eval failure=if(EventCode==4625,1,0), success=if(EventCode==4624,1,0) | stats sum(failure) as failures sum(success) as successes by src_ip user | where failures>=10 OR (failures>=5 AND successes>=1) to catch many failures or a success that follows a burst of failures. To nail password spraying specifically—one IP touching many users with only a few tries each—analysts use index=wineventlog EventCode=4625 | stats dc(user) as unique_users count as total_attempts by src_ip | where unique_users>=20 AND total_attempts/unique_users<=3. For lateral movement and odd admin access, a common pattern is “new where there wasn’t before,” for example index=wineventlog EventCode=4624 LogonType=3 user IN [| inputlookup admins.csv | fields user] | stats earliest(_time) as first_seen latest(_time) as last_seen values(src_ip) by user dest | where first_seen>=relative_time(now(), "-24h") to spot an admin logging into a host for the first time in a day. Process-based detections lean on Sysmon: index=sysmon EventCode=1 (Image="*\\powershell.exe" OR OriginalFileName="PowerShell.exe") | search CommandLine="*EncodedCommand*" OR CommandLine="*DownloadString*" OR CommandLine="*IEX*" | table _time host user Image CommandLine to surface weaponized PowerShell, and index=sysmon EventCode=1 Image="*\\cmd.exe" ParentImage="*\\winword.exe" to catch suspicious child processes spawned from Office. To highlight rare binaries per host or fleetwide outliers, analysts use frequency analysis such as index=sysmon EventCode=1 | stats count by Image | sort 0 count | head 20 for globally rare executables, or index=sysmon EventCode=1 | stats count by dest Image | eventstats sum(count) as fleet_count by Image | where fleet_count<5 to find images almost never seen. For web or proxy egress spikes that might indicate data theft, a simple baseline helps: index=proxy OR index=firewall | timechart span=5m sum(bytes_out) as bytes_out by src_ip | where bytes_out>0 for a quick scan, or ... | timechart span=1h sum(bytes_out) as bytes | streamstats window=24 avg(bytes) as avg stdev(bytes) as sd | eval z=(bytes-avg)/sd | where z>=3 to flag three-sigma anomalies. DNS tunneling and exfil show up as long, numerous, or rare queries: index=dns (query!="_msdcs*") | eval qlen=len(query) | where qlen>=50 OR like(query,"%._%._%") | stats count avg(qlen) as avg_len by src_ip | where count>=200 OR avg_len>=60, and index=dns | tstats count from datamodel=Network_Resolution by DNS.query DNS.src | where count>=500 when you’re using accelerated data models. Geo-based anomalies are straightforward with enrichment: index=auth action=success | iplocation src_ip | lookup user_home_country user OUTPUT home_country | where Country!=home_country | stats count by user src_ip Country to flag logins from outside a user’s normal country. For speed and scale, many teams lean on tstats and data models: | tstats count from datamodel=Authentication where Authentication.action=success by Authentication.user Authentication.src Authentication.app for fast auth over long ranges, and | tstats values(Processes.process) as proc count from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes by Endpoint.dest | where count<5 to spot hosts running very few (i.e., unusual) processes in the model. Finally, tying detections to risk-based alerting is common in 2025: search ... your detection ... | eval risk_object=user, risk_object_type="user", risk_score=30, risk_message="Encoded PowerShell on host" | collect index=risk so multiple medium-signals roll up into a high-priority case.

By using the 5-step SOC Analyst Method found within SOC Analyst NOW! and the book Jump-start Your SOC Analyst Career: 2nd edition.