Security Insights

Open source SIEM tools let you build real detection skills at zero cost. Here are 7 worth running in a home lab, ranked by what they actually teach.

Best cybersecurity certifications for beginners in 2026, ranked by ROI for SOC-bound career switchers. Honest costs, HR recognition, and skill signal per cert.

Windows event IDs cheat sheet for SOC analysts: 31 essential security event IDs covering auth, process execution, log tampering, and lateral movement.

Common ports cheat sheet for SOC analysts — master the 42 TCP/UDP ports that appear in firewall logs, SIEM alerts, and security interviews every single day.

A step-by-step SOC workflow to analyze a phishing email: safe handling, header forensics, URL and attachment triage, and a documented verdict.

Alert triage is the core SOC skill — learn the framework analysts use to assess severity, confirm IOCs, and separate real threats from false positives.

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

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.

How to become a SOC analyst: a realistic roadmap from IT helpdesk to SOC, covering certs, hands-on practice, and what hiring managers actually screen for.