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SoC It To Me

September 11, 2022 by Jay Cuthrell

Getting Informed

Let’s imagine for a moment that SoC1 is expressed as a SoC2 that acts as a functional SoC3 and possibly as a virtual SoC4 at hyperscale. But first, some definitions are in order because acronyms can be confusing without proper context.

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Within computer science, separation of concerns (SoC) is a fundamental design consideration. Plainly stated, when presented with a collection of things that need to be done, attempt to compartment each distinct need individually.

Within computer hardware design, system on a chip (SoC) is a design goal to place what would be separation of concerns specific components onto a single chip.

Within organizations, a security operations center (SoC) is the compartment of people, processes, and tools that deal with functional protection of the organization itself from various threats.

Sometimes analogies can be helpful. Also, if you know me then you know I adore the use of analogies.

For more than a decade, security concepts used analogies to personal health5 or even biological immune systems6. So, it is reasonable to expect additional inspirations from the natural world applied to modern computing.

As technology is the response to perceived needs, those needs may be satisfied initially by an approach or practice that is ultimately eschewed for the better in the wake of paradigm shifts7. Just consider the technology of The Flintstones cartoons and even our modern day mining practices.

On this day in 1986, a mining tradition dating back to 1911 ended: the use of canaries in coal mines to detect carbon monoxide and other toxic gases before they hurt humans. New plans from the government declared that the “electronic nose,” a detector with a digital reading, would replace the birds, according to the BBC.8

A humble canary’s call to action… Take care of TCB 🎶

Increasingly, taking care of business (TCB) in terms of modern security processes will require human machine partnerships for contemplating the correlation of events that represent signals worthy of action. Indeed, automation and convergence will be what drives the security operations center (SoC) to take advantage of separation of concerns (SoC) that are satisfied by proliferation of system on a chip (SoC) solutions — and possibly running a virtual system of canaries (SoC) at hyperscale.

Ask yourself this question:

What’s the next biological entity (or biological analogy!) used in day to day business that will see itself give way to automations and convergence as part of modernization?

Until next time… Place your bets!