Are Virtual Security Operations Centers in Your Future?
The next wave of campus physical security may be VSOCs, which leverage the cloud to deliver efficiencies, cost savings and improved security.
What Is the Cloud?
The simplest way to explain the cloud is comparing it to cooking food for either yourself, your family or for a large party like a wedding you host in your backyard. I
tems 2, 3 and 4 listed below are all cloud services:
1. On-Premises Computing: You do everything at your home. You plan the menu, buy and prepare the food. You cook the meal in your kitchen. Set the table, serve the meal and when you’re done, you’re responsible for cleaning up the mess. Everything is done by you.
2. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): You order some of the food and supplies online, which is delivered to your home. You rent event items such as extra chairs, chaffing dishes that you pick up at the rental store and haul to your home. You take care of the cooking and serving it to your guests and clean up.
3. Platform as a Service (Paas): You leverage more help and services and have caterers bring all of the food, but they use your kitchen to prepare and cook some dishes that weren’t already cooked at their kitchen. They also help to serve your guests while you have another glass of wine. At the end, your staff cleans up the major mess, but you still end up tidying up over time as it’s your house, and you may find a hot wing wedged between your sofa two weeks later.
4. Software as a Service (SaaS): You host your event at a nice hotel ballroom. All you do is work with the hotel’s events management team for an all-inclusive gala event, and at the end of the party you cut a check and leave. The SaaS example can also work for small meals like getting a slice of pizza and beer at your local pizza shop. You pay $10 bucks, have a good slice and a brewski, and you’re done. Your kitchen at home remains spotless. Many apps on your mobile phone work this way where you pay for the software experience as a service and your mobile device is just the hardware used to view and execute on the service.
For you more technical folks, my example is not to insult your intelligence, but it took me a while to figure out the cloud early on and this example was told to me by the Director of Microsoft Justice and Public Safety, Rik Zak, who also happens to be a fire lieutenant in the Chicago suburban area. He briefs a lot of public safety chiefs and commanders, and this example really resonates well with decision makers who may not be that technical.
VSOCs Help Campuses Better Utilize Security Resources
At Microsoft, our global security team has embarked on a new strategic approach to campus security, and we’re pivoting away from GSOCs and evolving to an intelligence driven, operational led fusion center VSOC (virtual security operations center). After years of running our own GSOCs, we’ve discovered that a lot of the functions within the GSOC are not focused on life-safety or mission-critical activities. The thousands of signals and false alarms as well as non-security tasks that were absorbed in the GSOC through scope creep have reduced the majority of the GSOC’s function into a low level call center. The new VSOC model has decision makers either physically within the fusion center or virtually. This is a really hard concept for traditional security managers to buy in to and even harder for law enforcement agencies.
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With the VSOC fusion center philosophy, you don’t need a security operations center (SOC). A VSOC can be situated anywhere because any alarms or other service calls can be pushed off to third-party security services. I see the future of SaaS (Software as a Service) to also be an acronym for physical security SaaS (Security as a Service). This is where the power of the cloud and security as a service can enable small organizations to operate just like a large corporate enterprise security program.
We have since closed our GSOC in the U.K., and converted the Redmond GSOC to the VSOC fusion center, with our GSOC in India now operating as a security communication center for tier 1 calls for service. The Redmond VSOC fusion center now has high-speed security professionals with decision making authority managing the operations. The VSOC’s focus is only on mission critical, life-safety events, and we’re able to quickly assess and address threats without layers of reporting/approval protocols that previously slowed down our response.
Transition to VSOC Requires Planning
We have realized that security as a service is an easier model to manage if you find the right partners for your program. Not all partners will work for everyone. You’ll need to find the best options based on your organization’s needs and requirements. Then the appropriate planning, diligence and strategy are required before spending a lot of money on in-house security services or technology solutions. This is where a good consulting firm with excellent experience and track record can help with your strategy. Don’t just take their word for it either, ask for references and do benchmarking with their references. If they are as good as they advertise, then their clients should be singing their praises.
Whether your current security program is very mature or just starting out, please consider this info for your security planning. Many organizations struggle getting out of the gate and are just keeping the trains running. But if you take the time to plan and leverage SaaS security partners to help you craft a strategy and speak in terms that your finance directors, controllers, or CFO’s understand, you’d be surprised at what you can accomplish.
Brian Tuskan is Microsoft’s Senior Director of Global Security Technology, Services and Investigations.
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