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Best Practices

Practical techniques for SOC analysts: triage habits, detection engineering, and the daily workflows that separate good analysts from great ones.

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Best Practices

SOC Tools by Tier: What T1, T2 and T3 Analysts Open First

SOC tools sorted by tier and task, not category: what a T1 analyst opens in an alert's first 10 minutes, what T2 and T3 add, and what to practice free.

Nerea GuallarSep 28, 202613 min read

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Best Practices

SOC Playbook Template: Steps, Queries and Thresholds

Copy this SOC playbook template: triggers, steps, SPL/KQL/Lucene queries and branch thresholds for one alert type, with two filled-in examples.

Nicole DobrovolskyySep 7, 202622 min read

Dual-monitor workstation in a dark room showing code on an iMac and a landscape wallpaper on a second display, lit by a desk lamp
Best Practices

Best EDR Tools in 2026: What Tier 1 Analysts Learn First

Best EDR tools for SOC analysts: CrowdStrike, Defender, SentinelOne, Cortex XDR and more, ranked by console learnability and job-market frequency.

Astrid LindqvistJun 6, 202617 min read

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Best Practices

Cyber Threat Hunting Tools: 13 SOC Analysts Use (2026)

Cyber threat hunting tools every SOC analyst needs: Sigma, YARA, KQL, Velociraptor, Wireshark, Zeek, MISP and more, grouped by layer with code examples.

Astrid LindqvistJun 3, 202618 min read

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Best Practices

Best SIEM Tools in 2026: 12 Platforms Ranked

12 best SIEM tools for 2026, re-checked in September: Splunk under Cisco, QRadar SaaS moved to Cortex XSIAM, pricing models, and who each one fits.

Astrid LindqvistMay 28, 202626 min read

MacBook Pro on a dark desk with a colorful code editor open showing syntax-highlighted source code in a dark theme
Best Practices

Open Source SIEM: 7 Free Tools for Your Home Lab (2026)

Open source SIEM tools to self-host on Linux with Docker: Wazuh, OpenSearch and 5 more, with RAM specs and which licenses are truly open source.

Astrid LindqvistMay 23, 202620 min read

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Best Practices

Best Cybersecurity Certifications for Beginners: 2026 Costs

8 beginner certs ranked for SOC analyst jobs, with prices checked on each issuer's site in Sept 2026: Security+ $439, BTL1 £399, ISC2 CC no longer free.

Astrid LindqvistMay 21, 202618 min read

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Best Practices

SOC Analyst Interview Questions: 30 With Answers

SOC analyst interview questions decoded: what interviewers test, sample answers, and log examples to study before your first security ops interview.

Astrid LindqvistApr 23, 202619 min read

Tiered salary bands for SOC analyst roles from Tier 1 entry-level to Tier 3 senior, displayed as a compensation ladder in a security context
Best Practices

SOC Analyst Salary 2026: Tier 1 to Tier 3 ($48K to $145K)

Tier 1 SOC analysts earn $48,000 to $72,000; Tier 3 and leads reach $145,000. Honest ranges by tier, location, and cert, from BLS and aggregator data.

Astrid LindqvistApr 16, 202617 min read