SOC Interview Question Answer

SOC Analyst Interview
Questions & Answers
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Question & Answers
About SOC
Due to the rapid increase in data breach incidents and sophisticated attacks,
organizations are investing heavily in technologies and security solutions. The
deployment of a security operation center (SOC) is a cost-effective strategy
against these cyber threats. The soc team deals with security incidents within
the organization. The SOC analyst plays a vital role in the SOC team by
monitoring the log data, identifying suspicious activities, and reporting to the
higher authorities. It could be an excellent platform to start your career in
cybersecurity. A candidate must have a basic knowledge of networking,
malware analysis, and incidence response.
This article outlines the most common SOC analyst interview questions and
answers to help you get selected for a SOC analyst job role. The questions test
the knowledge of candidates about various SOC processes, networking, and
web application security.
www.infosectrain.com | [email protected] 01
Question & Answers
In this blog, we will discuss the ‘SOC Analyst

Interview Question & Answers’
Question 1 : Explain the SOC team architecture ?
Answer : The SOC team consists of different levels. The following diagram
exhibits a traditional SOC team hierarchy.
SOC Manager
INFOGRAPHIC
L3/SOC Lead
INFOGRAPHIC
L2 Security Analysts
L1 Security Analysts
Nowadays, there are additional job roles included in the SOC team hierarchy.
These job roles are as follows:
> Threat intelligence
> Threat hunter
> Incident handler
> Digital forensic investigator
> Red team specialist
> Incident response automation Engineer
Question & Answers
Question 2 : What are the responsibilities of L1 and L2 Security

analyst ?
Answer : Responsibilities of L1 security analyst :
> Monitoring security incidents 24/7 from various SOC entry channels
(SIEM, e-mail, firewall, IDS, IPS)
> Analysis of the triggered security incidents
> Raising tickets for validated incidents
> Formulate remediation strategies with the incident response team
> Helping L2 security analyst and SOC Lead in preparing reports
Responsibilities of L2 security analyst :
> A detailed evaluation of escalated alerts
> Helping L1 security analyst in the assessment of alerts
> Troubleshooting the issues with SIEM
> Assisting in the remediation planning after a security incident has occurred
Question & Answers
Question 3 : What are the advantages of having a SOC team ?
Answer : The following are the advantages of having a SOC team in an

organization :
> SOC team provides continuous monitoring and analysis of security events.
Therefore it helps in detecting intrusion and prevent any potential attacks.
> The approach of the SOC team is proactive rather than being reactive.
> The SOC team also ensures that the organization stays compliant with the
existing regulations or policies.
> The SOC team provides a complete overview of the organization’s security
posture by correlating all the events taking place over the network.
> With the expertise of a SOC team, an organization can respond quickly to
external threats and security incidents.
Question & Answers
Question 4 : What is the three-way handshake ?
Answer : A three-way handshake (also known as TCP-3way handshake) is a

mechanism to establish a connection between the client and server over a
TCP/IP network. In this mechanism, the client and server send each other the
synchronization and acknowledgment packets before an actual data
transmission occurs.
Three-way handshake mechanism : In this mechanism, the client sends an

SYN TCP packet to the server asking for a connection (synchronizing) request
and a sequence number. The server responds with the SYN/ACK packet,
acknowledging the connection request and assigning a sequence number. The
client again sends an ACK packet to accept the response of the server.
Question & Answers
Question 5 : What documents do you create in SOC ?
Answer : SOC team creates the following documents :
> Log source onboarding
> Log source decommissioning
> Threat intelligence gathering procedures
> Threat hunting methodologies
> New use case development procedures
> Data configuration backup procedures
Question & Answers
Question 6 : What is data leakage? Explain in your own words.
Answer : Data leakage refers to the exposure or transmission of an

organization’s sensitive data to the external recipient. The data may be
transmitted or exposed via the internet or by physical means
The following factors can be responsible for data leakage :
> Most of the data losses are accidental. For example, an employee may
unintentionally be transmitting information to the wrong recipient
> Dis gruntled employees
> Insecure backup storage
> System breach by a hacker
> Systems not properly configured
> Inappropriate security control measures
Question & Answers
Question 7 : List the steps to develop the Data Loss Prevention

(DLP) strategy ?
Answer : The steps to develop and implement a DLP strategy are as follows :
Step 1 : Prioritizing the critical data assets
Step 2 : Categorizing the data based on its source
Step 3 : Analyzing which data is more prone to the risks
Step 4 : Monitor the transmission of the data
Step 5 : Developing control measures to mitigate the data leakage risk
Question & Answers
Question 8: What is the difference between TCP and UDP ?
Answer : The difference between TCP and UDP is as follows :
TCP(Transfer Layer Protocol) UDP(User Datagram Protocol)
TCP is a connection-oriented protocol. UDP is a datagram oriented protocol.
UDP is not reliable as it does not

TCP is reliable as it guarantees the delivery
guarantees the delivery of data packets to
of data packets to the destination.
the destination.
TCP Provides a thorough error checking UDP provides a basic error checking
mechanism. mechanism.
TCP is heavyweight. UDP is lightweight.
TCP is slower as compared to UDP UDP IS faster than TCP
Failed data packets are retransmitted in In UDP, there is no re-transmission for

TCP. failed data packets.
Example: HTTP, SSH, HTTPS, SMTP Example: TFTP, VoIP, online multiplayer
games
Question & Answers
Question 9 : What is the difference between firewall deny and

drop ?
Answer : DENY RULE : If the firewall is set to deny rule, it will block the
connection and send a reset packet back to the requester. The requester will
know that the firewall is deployed.
DROP RULE : If the firewall is set to drop rule, it will block the connection request
without notifying the requester.
It is best to set the firewall to deny the outgoing traffic and drop the incoming
traffic so that attacker will not know whether the firewall is deployed or not.
Question & Answers
Question 10 : Explain different SOC models ?
Answer : There are three types of models in SOC:
> In-house model : In this SOC model organization has its security
operation center. All the resources, technologies, and processes are managed
within the organization.
> MSSP (Managed security service provider): In MSSP, a security

service provider team helps the organization monitor and manage the security
incidents.
> Dedicated MSSP : In the dedicated MSSP, the team works for a client using
its technology and resources.
> Shared MSSP : In the shared MSSP team of services providers, use his
technology and logs, and security incidents are managed at its data center.
> Hybrid SOC model : It is the blend of in-house and MSSP SOC models. In
the hybrid SOC model, level-1 monitoring is managed by MSSP, and level-2
monitoring is run by the organization (client) itself.
Question & Answers
Question 11 : What is the Runbook in SOC ?
Answer : A runbook, also known as a standard operating procedure (SOP),

consists of a set of guidelines to handle security incidents and alerts in the
Security Operation Centre. The L1 security analyst generally uses it for better
assessment and documentation of the security events.
Question & Answers
Question 14 : What is the Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attack, and

how to prevent it ?
Answer : Cross-site Scripting: In the cross-site scripting attack, the attacker

executes the malicious scripts on a web page and can steal the user’s sensitive
information. With XSS vulnerability, the attacker can inject Trojan, read out user
information, and perform specific actions such as the website’s defacement.
Countermeasures:
> Encoding the output
> Applying filters at the point where input is received
> Using appropriate response headers
> Enabling content security policy
> Escaping untrusted characters
Question & Answers
Question 12 : What is the difference between the Red Team and

the Blue Team ?
Answer : The red team and blue team consist of highly skilled cybersecurity
professionals. Both teams play an important role in strengthening the security
posture of an organization.
> Red Team : The red team plays an offensive role. The team conducts
rigorous exercises to penetrate the security infrastructure and identify the
exploitable vulnerabilities in it. The red team is generally hired by the
organization to test the defenses.
> Blue Team : The blue team plays a defensive role. The blue team’s role is to
defend the organization’s security infrastructure by detecting the intrusion.
The members of a blue team are internal security professionals of the
organization.
Question & Answers
Question 13 : Define a Phishing attack and how to prevent it ?
Answer : Phishing is a type of social engineering attack in which an attacker

obtains sensitive information from the target by creating urgency, using
threats, impersonation, and incentives. Spear phishing, e-mail spam, session
hijacking, smishing, and vishing are types of phishing attacks.
Ways to prevent a phishing attack:
> Raising awareness about phishing attack among employees
> Conducting testing campaigns to check the awareness of the employees
> Implementing two-factor authentication
> Monitoring the behavior of employees
> Applying e-mail filters to identify spams
Question & Answers
Question 15 : Explain the SQL injection vulnerability and give

countermeasures to prevent it ?
Answer : SQL Injection: SQL injection is a famous vulnerability in the web

application that allows hackers to interfere in communication taking place
between a web application and its database. Hackers inject malicious input
into the SQL statement to compromise the SQL database. They can retrieve,
alter, or modify the data. In some cases, it allows attackers to perform DDOS
attacks.
Countermeasures:
> Using parameterized queries
> Validating the inputs
> Creating stored procedures
> Deploying a web application firewall
> Escaping untrusted characters
Question & Answers
Question 16 : Difference between hashing and Encryption ?
Answer : The difference between hashing and Encryption is as follows :
Hashing Encryption
Conversion of data into a fixed-length of Conversion of data into an unreadable

unreadable strings using algorithms string using cryptographic keys
Hashed data can not be reverted back into Encrypted data can be decrypted back
readable strings into readable strings
The length of the hashed string is fixed The length of the encrypted string is not
fixed
No keys are used in hashing Keys are used in Encryption
Question & Answers
Question 17 : What are the SOC implementation stages ?
Answer : Following are the stages in the SOC implementation :
Defining the
scope
Developing
Builing the
process, policies,
team
procedures
CMM Level 3 Automation Developing KPIs
Question & Answers
Question 18 : What is the difference between SIEM and IDS ?
Answer : SIEM (Security incident and event management system) and IDS
(Intrusion detection system) are used by the organizations to protect the
network and systems efficiently. Both collect the log data, but unlike SIEM, IDS
does not facilitate event correlation and centralization of log data. Therefore,
IDS can only detect intrusions. The SIEM allows security analysts to take security
measures and preventive actions against a possible or ongoing attack.
Question & Answers
Question 19 : Being a SOC analyst, What will you do if you found

300 alerts triggered at once ?
Answer : If multiple alerts trigger at the same time, there could be the
following three possibilities:
A single alert may have triggered more than once: If a single alert triggers
more than once, I will distinguish the duplicate alerts.
If the alerts are different: I will prioritize them and chose the one having a
higher impact.
If the alerts are for a new correlation rule: Then alerts may be misconfigured. I
will inform the SIEM Engineer.
(These types of questions are asked by the interviewer to check the practical
or applied knowledge of the candidates)
Question & Answers
Question 20 : What is DNS? Why is DNS monitoring essential ?
Answer : The domain name system is a distributed database over the

internet that enables converting user-friendly hostnames into
computer- friendly IP addresses. It is known as the phonebook of the internet.
DNS plays a vital role in how an end-user in an organization connects to the

internet. Whenever a client establishes a connection with a domain, its
information is stored in DNS logs. DNS monitoring can disclose information such
as websites visited by the employee, malicious domain accessed by an
end- user, malware connecting to Command & Control server. It can help in
identifying and thwarting cyberattacks.
Question & Answers
Wrap up
These were the frequently asked SOC analyst interview questions that might
help you get an opportunity to be a SOC team member. The interview
questions may vary depending upon the organization. Be prepared for the
questions regarding your background and the technologies you have worked
on in your previous organization. Just like any other interview, Confidence, and
good communication skills are key to success.
www.infosectrain.com | [email protected]

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SOC Analyst Interview

Questions & Answers

In this blog, we will discuss the ‘SOC Analyst

Question 1 : Explain the SOC team architecture ?

> Threat intelligence

> Threat hunter

> Incident handler

> Digital forensic investigator

> Red team specialist

> Incident response automation Engineer

Question 2 : What are the responsibilities of L1 and L2 Security

Answer : Responsibilities of L1 security analyst :

(SIEM, e-mail, ﬁrewall, IDS, IPS)

> Analysis of the triggered security incidents

> Raising tickets for validated incidents

> Formulate remediation strategies with the incident response team

> Helping L2 security analyst and SOC Lead in preparing reports

Responsibilities of L2 security analyst :

> A detailed evaluation of escalated alerts

> Helping L1 security analyst in the assessment of alerts

> Troubleshooting the issues with SIEM

Question 3 : What are the advantages of having a SOC team ?

Answer : The following are the advantages of having a SOC team in an

Question 4 : What is the three-way handshake ?

Answer : A three-way handshake (also known as TCP-3way handshake) is a

Three-way handshake mechanism : In this mechanism, the client sends an

Question 5 : What documents do you create in SOC ?

Answer : SOC team creates the following documents :

> Log source onboarding

> Log source decommissioning

> Threat intelligence gathering procedures

> Threat hunting methodologies

> New use case development procedures

> Data conﬁguration backup procedures

Question 6 : What is data leakage? Explain in your own words.

Answer : Data leakage refers to the exposure or transmission of an

The following factors can be responsible for data leakage :

> Dis gruntled employees

> Insecure backup storage

> System breach by a hacker

> Systems not properly conﬁgured

> Inappropriate security control measures

Question 7 : List the steps to develop the Data Loss Prevention

Step 1 : Prioritizing the critical data assets

Step 2 : Categorizing the data based on its source

Step 3 : Analyzing which data is more prone to the risks

Step 4 : Monitor the transmission of the data

Step 5 : Developing control measures to mitigate the data leakage risk

Question 8: What is the difference between TCP and UDP ?

Answer : The difference between TCP and UDP is as follows :

TCP(Transfer Layer Protocol) UDP(User Datagram Protocol)

TCP is a connection-oriented protocol. UDP is a datagram oriented protocol.

UDP is not reliable as it does not

TCP is heavyweight. UDP is lightweight.

TCP is slower as compared to UDP UDP IS faster than TCP

Failed data packets are retransmitted in In UDP, there is no re-transmission for

Question 9 : What is the difference between firewall deny and

Question 10 : Explain different SOC models ?

Answer : There are three types of models in SOC:

> MSSP (Managed security service provider): In MSSP, a security