The deployment of platforms for cybersecurity skill development results in budgetary reductions and cost savings, as well as improvements in critical security operations center (SOC) KPIs including mean time to remediate (MTTR) and dwell time, according to a report by Cyberbit and TAG Cyber. The report offers key insight to executive leadership on the impact of investing in realistic Security Operations Center (SOC) training solutions and can be downloaded here.

“CISOs are under enormous pressure to maintain a secure organization with limited workforce and budget,” said Adi Dar, CEO, Cyberbit. “TAG Cyber’s analysis shows that investing in next generation SOC skilling solutions, as offered by Cyberbit, has a significant impact on both financial and human performance – resulting in better utilization of existing enterprise security tools, as well as decreasing time spent on security issues.”

The TAG Cyber analysis, Estimating Return on Investment: Cyberbit Skills Development Platform identifies three major themes:

1. Investing in simulation-based SOC training solutions reduces cybersecurity spend
   
   Hyper-realistic training increases the security team’s preparedness for cyberattacks through better utilization of existing tools and reduces the need for additional solutions directly impacting cybersecurity budgets. Next-generation SOC training methods save 13.7% of the total SOC budget, or 2.2% of the total cybersecurity budget. This is equivalent to $40,000 per analyst per year, and an overall savings of 25% in security tool costs, one of the largest cybersecurity budget items.
    
2. Hands-on SOC training is the best way to address the cybersecurity skills gap
   
   One of the most painful cybersecurity challenges the industry is facing today is the cybersecurity skills gap. Integrating hands-on cyber labs and simulation exercises into cybersecurity hiring processes can save companies time and money, and significantly improve hiring efficiency and quality. For example, it is estimated to reduce screening time and effort by as much as 50%, improve the hiring quality of candidates, reduce the number of missed hires and increase employee retention rates.
    
3. Hands-on skills development and simulation training improves SOC performance
   
   The impact of hands-on skill development is much broader than traditionally perceived, and spans across both quantitative and qualitative elements, revealing a dramatic impact on multiple SOC KPIs. By implementing and utilizing next-generation SOC training, companies can expect to reduce the time spent on security incidents by up to 25%, reduce dwell time of cyber campaigns by up to 25%, and reduce Mean Time to Respond (MTTR) by up to 30%.

“As a former cybersecurity executive, I understand the need for expert guidance and quantitative analysis when making decisions about how best to protect an organization’s infrastructure,” says Ed Amoroso, CEO, TAG Cyber. “Yet, there is an astounding lack of support available to executive leadership. Our research provides clear direction to leaders in the security space, by employing empirical data, experience, and observation in order to make findings applicable to enterprise security teams.”

For more information on the positive impact of investing in Cyber Skills Development, please visit, https://www.cyberbit.com/ROI-Calculator.