When Cyber Threats Don’t Sleep: The Case for a 24/7 Security Operations (SOC)

Threats to your business never stop. Malicious actors are always on the hunt for a vulnerability to exploit—whether that’s an unpatched system, human error, or other security lapse. 

These vulnerabilities escalate your breach risks by making it easier for adversaries to access your systems and data. Constant vigilance is essential to detecting and neutralizing threats before they can do harm. 

However, midsized organizations and smaller enterprises often lack the resources for always-on cybersecurity capabilities, leaving them exposed to increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks. 

In this third article in our series, we’ll share how an outsourced 24/7 security operations center (SOC) works with your organization’s security team to proactively hunt for, triage, and disrupt threats before they can do harm.

Read previous articles in this series:

• From Data Breach to Cyber Resilience with Managed Detection and Response (MDR)

• How MDR Makes Your Security Tools Work Better

How SOC Analysts Turn Alerts to Action

The first lines of defense against data breaches should be basic security policies and cyber-aware employees. Least privilege, system hygiene, role-aware training—all these are cybersecurity essentials, especially in environments where exposure is a common risk.

Even so, it’s impossible to protect against every threat. If a control is bypassed—through an endpoint, cloud workload, or user action—the challenge is not receiving an alert but in determining its significance and response. 

For example, your SIEM or EDR may flag a suspicious executable or document, yet the alert alone rarely explains intent or scope. SOC analysts—who are often certified cybersecurity professionals—review these alerts to determine their potential for harm. They observe suspicious files in a secure sandbox, identifying key indicators that reveal the attacker’s goals, how the threat spreads, and what evidence it leaves behind.

Analysts use these indicators to search for related activity across the environment and confirm whether the threat executed elsewhere. This human review uncovers patterns that automated tools may miss, and insights from multiple cases are added to a shared knowledge base to strengthen future detection and threat hunting. 

When Threats Masquerade as Legitimate Tools 

Many threats don’t look like malware. Attackers often use legitimate admin tools—such as remote access or management utilities—to blend in and avoid triggering antivirus alerts. 

Analysts look for unusual activity, like a first-time remote connection or an account acting outside its normal pattern, then use those clues to determine whether the activity is malicious. By continuously hunting across environments, they recognize these behaviors faster when they happen again.

Attackers also disguise harmful code inside software that appears legitimate, including popular AI tools. This tactic targets developers and power users, making it important to collect telemetry from endpoints, identity systems and networks, and to have teams who track evolving attack techniques.

Even with strong EDR coverage, an initial breach may not be immediately visible—especially when attackers exploit vulnerabilities without dropping malware. In those cases, analysts work backward from what they can see: unusual processes, network ports, or log entries. 

They use forensic methods to find the source of the breach and stop the attacker from moving deeper. EDR is still essential for host-level visibility and actions like isolating a device, but human investigation connects the dots and closes gaps that tools alone can’t catch.

4 Ways Pondurance SOC Improves Cyber Resilience

Effective cybersecurity requires human expertise to interpret alerts, adjust detection logic, and act when something is wrong. Pondurance’s 24/7 SOC provides that operational maturity.

1. Continuous Monitoring by a U.S.-Based SOC

Pondurance provides continuous monitoring from a U.S.-based SOC, ensuring that qualified analysts are available at all times to investigate alerts and take action. Local coverage minimizes communication delays and reduces handoff complexity during response. Analysts can isolate compromised endpoints, stop malicious activity, and guide containment as events unfold.

2. Real-Time Threat Intelligence and Adaptive Detection

Threat activity changes quickly, and detection logic must evolve with it. SOC analysts continuously update detections using peer intelligence, public reporting, and threat research—even when campaigns are targeting other industries. New rules are applied proactively to account for shifts in attack patterns. Prioritization remains focused on active and emerging threats rather than legacy malware.

3. Focused Detection That Reduces Alert Noise

Not every possible alert adds value. Pondurance applies a selective approach, enabling rules that are relevant to actual threats and client environments. Analysts validate context, adjust thresholds, and tune detections to reduce unnecessary noise—helping ensure that escalated alerts represent meaningful risk and support faster decision-making.

4. Visibility and Expertise Close Coverage Gaps

Endpoint tools can miss activity that appears at the network or identity level, and some EDR tiers don’t log enough telemetry for full investigation. The SOC reviews existing coverage and recommends improvements such as deploying additional agents, adding network sensors, or enabling higher-tier logging. Clients also benefit from collective insights across environments and access to digital forensics and incident response support if a breach occurs.

“We truly have middle-of-the-night visibility and the peace of mind that comes from knowing that someone is still looking at our data even after our analysts have gone home at the end of the day,” says Pondurance user Tobey Coffman, who is director of information security services at Ball State University in Ohio. “Let’s face it: Bad guys don’t care about business hours. If something happens at 2:00 am, it’s important to have the confidence that our vendor enables us to get on it right away.”

Learn how Ball State grew its partnership with Pondurance from a single penetration test into a fully managed, 24/7 detection and response program. Check out the podcast.