EC-Council Certified SOC Analyst (CSA): What you need to know

The Certified Soc Analyst (CSA) is a certification hosted by the EC-Council that validates IT security professionals’ skills and expertise to join a Security Operation Centre (SOC). SOC is a team of Cybersecurity professionals responsible for monitoring and responding to an organization’s security threats. The credential is mainly developed for aspiring Level 1 and Level 2 SOC analysts to understand various SOC processes and provide them with the necessary skills to operate efficiently within a SOC team. It can also aid network security professionals in handling the operations related to network security.

A SOC analyst monitors the security incidents, looks after the alerts triage process, and escalates the alerts appropriately. He effectively manages various SOC processes, including threat detection, incident response, alert triages and inform other Cybersecurity professionals and top management about the potential or ongoing threats within the organization’s security posture.

The CSA is a practically-driven training program that promotes hands-on learning and validates the elementary as well as advanced skills to detect intrusions and respond to various threats. The training program will teach how to deploy Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions along with threat intelligence.

Who can opt for the CSA certification?

Apart from these job roles, anyone interested in becoming a part of the SOC team can take the CSA certification exam.

Exam Details

Eligibility: 

The participants should have one year of experience in the network security or Network Administration domain. The participants who have opted for official training from EC-Council or one of its accredited training Centers need not submit any proof of work experience.

Course outline :

The course content thoroughly covers the fundamentals of SOC operations, in-depth understanding of log management and correlation, deployment of SIEM solutions, detection, and incident response methodologies.

The Certified SOC Analyst training course comprises of six modules that are mentioned below with their exam weightage:

Module 1: Security Operation and management

• Understand SOC fundamentals
• Components of the SOC: People, processes, and technologies
• Implementation of SOC

Module 2: Understanding Cyber threats, IoCs, and attack methodologies

• Understand common cyber threats and attacks
• Network-level attacks
• Host level attacks
• Application-level attacks
• Knowing various Indicators of Compromise (IoC)
• Attacker’s methodologies

Module 3: Incidents, Events, and Logging

• Understand the basics of Incidents, events, and logging
• Concept of Centralized logging

Module 4: Incident Detection with Security Information and event management (SIEM)

• Understand the fundamentals of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
• Learn about renowned SIEM solutions
• Learn SIEM deployment
• Discuss use cases of incident detection at the application level, insider, network level, and host level
• Learn the concept of alert triaging and analysis

Module 5: Enhanced Incident Detection with Threat Intelligence

• Understand the basics of threat intelligence and its types
• Understand the threat intelligence development process
• Various sources of threat intelligence
• Understand the importance of threat intelligence for SOC operations

Module 6: Incidence Response

• Understand the basics of Incident Response
• Phases in Incident response
• Responding to network security incidence
• Responding to E-mail security incidence
• How to respond to an insider incident
• How to respond to malware incidents

Learning objectives of CSA

Participants will learn the following topics during their CSA training:

• SOC processes, operations, technologies, and workflows
• Get in-depth knowledge about various threats, attacks, vulnerabilities and methodologies and actions taken by an attacker
• Understanding the centralized log management process and how to monitor logs, alerts from various sources
• Learning how to implement, architect, tune and administer SIEM solutions like Splunk, AlienVault, OSSIM
• Monitoring threat patterns and perform a threat analysis
• Interpreting use cases regarding SIEM deployment and learning alert triage process
• Knowing how to formulate reports and use service desk ticketing system
• Integrating threat intelligence into SIEM solutions
• Learning advanced threat detection and incidence response process

Salient features of CSA certification

• Compliance with NICE 2.0 framework

CSA Certification is 100% compliant with the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) framework and falls under the category of ‘Protect and Defend.’ The certification prepares the candidates for specific SOC job roles. Participants learn how to secure the network and utilize the data collected from various sources to identify the network infrastructure’s ongoing and possible security incidents.

• Introduction to SOC workflow

The CSA training allows individuals to get a deep insight into the tools, technologies, operations, and procedures followed by a SOC team. Candidates learn how to monitor alerts, report incidents, and draft actionable reports.

• Learn deployment of SIEM solutions

You will learn how to deploy SIEM solutions and to detect security incidents with the help of it. Threat detection on multiple levels- application level, Insider level, Host level, and network level. The course outlines around 45 SIEM deployment use cases that are often used by security teams.

• Detection of threats utilizing useful threat intelligence

The CSA has included a separate module for the detection of threats using threat intelligence. It will also teach you to integrate threat intelligence with SIEM solutions to automate the process of threat detection.

• Promotes active and hands-on learning

CSA training program promotes active and hands-on learning of tools and technologies to monitor, detect, and respond to modern threats. After successfully completing the CSA training, the candidates will be able to work dynamically within a SOC team and help organizations mitigate the possible risks.

How much can one earn with a CSA certification?

CSA certification can help you earn an entry-level opportunity within a SOC team. According to PayScale and salary.com,  SOC analyst’s average salary in the US is $88,831. While in India, the average salary of a SOC analyst is INR 481473.

The salary may vary as per the experience and position held by a candidate.

Become a certified SOC analyst with Infosec Train?

Our Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) training program is meticulously developed by the subject matter experts to equip the candidates with the most in-demand skills to carry out SOC operations. Join our online CSA training program and get an in-depth understanding of threats, attacks, SOC processes, and workflows. Our highly skilled and experienced trainers will assist you in understanding the course modules in detail. Our dedicated cloud-based labs simulate the real working environment where you can practice and hone your skills.

Check out our latest schedule for the EC-Council’s CSA certification training program:

Infosec Train has also launched its customized SOC Analyst training program to hone the skills required for L1, L2, L3 SOC Analyst job positions. The course content and learning objectives of the training course are carefully designed by our industry veterans. Have a look at this newly introduced training program by clicking on the link provided below:

Infosec Train’s SOC Analyst Expert Training Course

AUTHOR
Shubham Bhatt ( )
Infosec Train

“ Shubham Bhatt holds a bachelor's degree in computer science & engineering. He is passionate about information security and has been writing on it for the past three years. Currently, he is working as a Content Writer & Editor at Infosec Train. “