Security Operations Efficiency dashboard
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Summary of Security Operations Efficiency dashboard
The Security Operations Efficiency dashboard is designed for Security Operations Center (SOC) managers to monitor overall SOC efficiency and individual analyst performance. It leverages Performance Analytics to track security incident management metrics over time, enabling SOC managers to identify areas for improvement and optimize operational effectiveness.
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Analyst Efficiency tab
This tab provides key metrics on analyst workload and incident handling, including:
- Average security incidents worked per analyst: Measures the average number of open incidents assigned to each analyst over a specified period.
- Closed security incidents per analyst: Tracks the total number of incidents closed by each analyst within a timeframe.
- Average security incident resolution time: Calculates the average time analysts take to close incidents, expressed in days.
- Average security incident age: Shows how long incidents remain open on average for each analyst.
- Backlog and closed incident analysis: Allows breakdown of open and closed incidents by analyst, group, priority, and comparison across months.
- Security incident age and resolution time: Provides insights into incident duration and resolution efficiency, with options to filter by various attributes.
Managers can drill down on these indicators for detailed performance insights.
Detection and Response Effectiveness tab
This tab focuses on the accuracy and timeliness of incident detection and response, featuring metrics such as:
- True positive incidents: Percentage of correctly identified security incidents within a category.
- False positive critical incidents: Percentage of critical incidents incorrectly identified as threats.
- Mean false positive risk score: Average risk score of false positives, indicating the analyst effort spent on non-threat incidents.
- False positive incident duration: Average investigation time spent on false positives.
- Security incident source effectiveness: Measures effectiveness of detection sources (e.g., email, network) by analyzing true positive rates.
- Incident volume and backlog analysis: Tracks the count and age of incidents by source and over time.
Incident Risk Score Analysis tab
This section analyzes the risk exposure and analyst workload by risk level:
- Total risk exposure: Counts open incidents categorized by risk levels (low, moderate, critical) with month-over-month comparisons.
- Normalized analyst work by risk score: Aggregates risk scores of true positive incidents closed by each analyst, adjusted by false positives.
- Analyst work by mean risk score: Calculates the average risk score per analyst, helping assess workload complexity.
Security Incident Stage Analysis tab
This tab presents the number and status of open incidents on a specific day, tracking stages such as analysis, containment, eradication, and recovery. It includes average incident age, affected configuration items, response tasks, and provides drill-down options for detailed views.
Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Enables SOC managers to quantitatively assess team and individual analyst performance.
- Helps identify bottlenecks in incident handling and areas where efficiency can be improved.
- Supports better resource allocation based on workload and risk exposure analysis.
- Improves detection quality by monitoring true vs. false positive incident ratios and source effectiveness.
- Facilitates tracking of incident resolution lifecycle stages for comprehensive operational insight.
Security operations center (SOC) managers can view overall efficiency metrics and measure the individual performance of the SOC team members in the organization.
The SOC manager can use the Performance Analytics dashboard to improve efficiency and develop a picture of how SOC is performing in both general and specific areas over time.
Analyst Efficiency tab
Select any of the indicators to drill down for further details. For example, select the indicator in the Average security incidents worked per analyst section.
| Indicator | Description |
|---|---|
| Average security incidents worked per analyst | Average number of open security incidents per analyst for the specified period. The formula used is [[Number of open security incidents / By month AVG +]]/[[Number of Security Agents]] |
| Closed security incidents per analyst | The total number of incidents closed by each analyst in the selected category in the specified period. The formula used is [Number of closed security incidents > Security Incident Category =
<category_name> / By month SUM +]]/[[Number of Security Agents / By month AVG +]] |
| Average security incident resolution | The average time taken by each analyst to close security incidents in the specified period. The formula used to show the result in days is ([[Summed duration of closed security incidents > Security
Incident Category = <category_name> / By month AVG +]] / [[Number of closed security incidents > Security Incident Category = <category_name> / By month AVG +]]) / 24 |
| Average security incident age | The average number of days for which security incidents remain open for each analyst. The formula used to show the result in days is ([[Summed age of open security incidents > Security Incident
Category = <category_name> / By month AVG +]]/ [[Number of open security incidents > Security Incident Category = <category_name> / By month AVG +]]) / 24 |
| Security incident backlog analysis | The total number of open security incidents in the specified period. Select an option from the Breakdown list to view the backlog for each analyst, security group, priority, and so on. You can also compare the number of open security incidents between two selected months. |
| Closed security incident analysis | The total number of security incidents that are closed in the specified period. Select an option from the Breakdown list to view the count for each analyst, security group, priority, and so on. You can also compare the number of security incidents that were closed between two selected months. |
| Security incident age | The average number of days for security incidents remain open in the specified period. Select an option from the Breakdown list to view the security incident age for each analyst, security group, priority, and
so on. The formula used to show the result in days is ([[Summed age of open security incidents > Security Incident Category = <category_name> > Security Assignment Group = <group_name> /
By month AVG +]]/ [[Number of open security incidents > Security Incident Category = <category_name> > Security Assignment Group = <group_name> / By month AVG +]]) / 24 |
| Security incident resolution time | The average number of days taken to resolve security incidents during the specified period. Select an option from the Breakdown list to view the security incident resolution time for each analyst, security
group, priority, and so on. The formula used to show the result in days is ([[Summed duration of closed security incidents > Security Incident Category = Malicious code activity > Security Assigned
To = John Ashby / By month AVG +]] / [[Number of closed security incidents > Security Incident Category = Malicious code activity > Security Assigned To = John Ashby / By month AVG +]]) /
24 |
Detection and Response Effectiveness tab
| Indicator | Description |
|---|---|
| True positive incidents | Percentage of true positive security
incidents in the selected category for the
specified period. The formula used is
(1-([[Number of false positive security
incidents > Security Incident Category = Malicious
code activity / By month SUM +]] / [[Number of
closed security incidents > Security Incident
Category = Malicious code activity / By month SUM
+]])) * 100 |
| False positive critical incidents | Percentage of false positive critical
security incidents in the selected category for
the specified period. The formula used is
([[Number of false positive security
incidents > Security Incident Risk Score =
Critical Risk > Security Incident Category =
Malicious code activity / By month SUM +]] /
[[Number of closed security incidents > Security
Incident Category = Malicious code activity / By
month SUM +]]) * 100
Note: Any security
incident where the Closed code = Invalid
vulnerability or False positive is
treated as a false positive
incident |
| Mean false positive risk score | Average monthly risk score of closed
security incidents that were identified as false
positive incidents. A lower risk score indicates
that the security analysts spent lesser time
analyzing false positive incidents. The formula
used is ([[Number of false positive
security incidents > Security Incident Risk Score
= Critical Risk > Security Incident Category =
Malicious code activity / By month SUM +]] /
[[Number of closed security incidents > Security
Incident Category = Malicious code activity / By
month SUM +]]) * 100 |
| False positive security incident duration | Average number of days that the security
analysts spent in investigating false positive
incidents. The formula used is ([[Summed
duration of false positive security incidents]] /
[[Number of false positive security incidents]]) /
24 |
| Security incident source effectiveness | Percentage of true positive security
incidents identified by a specific source for the
specified period. The source can be email, network
activity,customer support, and so on. This data
helps measure the effectiveness of the security
incident source. The formula used is
(1-([[Number of false positive security incidents
> Security Incident Category = Malicious code
activity > Security Incident Source = IDS/IPS / By
month SUM +]] / [[Number of closed security
incidents > Security Incident Category = Malicious
code activity > Security Incident Source = IDS/IPS
/ By month SUM +]])) * 100 |
| Security incident source volume analysis | Number of closed security incidents for current month for each Security incident source. You can also compare the number of security incidents for each source type between two selected months. |
| Security incident backlog analysis | The total number of open security incidents
in the specified period and the average number of
days for which the incidents remain open. You can
also compare the number of open security incidents
between two selected months. The formula used to
calculate the average backlog period is
([[Summed age of open security incidents >
Security Incident Category = Malicious code
activity]]/ [[Number of open security incidents >
Security Incident Category = Malicious code
activity]]) / 24 |
| Closed security incident analysis | The total number of closed security
incidents in the specified period and the average
resolution time for these incidents. The formula
used to calculate the average resolution time is
([[Summed duration of closed security
incidents > Security Incident Category = Malicious
code activity]] / [[Number of closed security
incidents > Security Incident Category = Malicious
code activity]]) / 24 |
Incident Risk Score Analysis tab
| Indicator | Description |
|---|---|
| Total risk exposure analysis | Total number of open incidents in each risk category (low, moderate, and critical) in the specified period. You can also compare the number of incidents in the different risk categories between two months. |
| Normalized security analyst work by risk score | The total risk score for each security
analyst for the specified period. This is
calculated based on the number of true positive
security incidents that the security analyst
closed. The formula used is [[Summed Risk
Score of Closed Security Incidents > Security
Incident Category = Malicious code activity >
Security Assigned To = SI Admin / By month SUM +]]
- [[Summed Risk Score of False Positive Security
Incidents > Security Incident Category = Malicious
code activity > Security Assigned To = SI Admin /
By month SUM +]] |
| Security analyst work by mean risk score | The average risk score for each security
analyst for the specified period. The formula used
is [[Summed Risk Score of Closed Security
Incidents > Security Incident Category = Malicious
code activity > Security Assigned To = SI Admin /
By month AVG +]] - [[Summed Risk Score of False
Positive Security Incidents > Security Incident
Category = Malicious code activity > Security
Assigned To = SI Admin / By month AVG
+]] |
Security Incident Stage Analysis tab
You can see the number of open incidents on a specific day and the status (analysis, draft, contain, eradicate, recover, or review) of these incidents. On each stage, you can view average age, affected CIs, response tasks, and so on. Select a link to view additional details or the breakdown of these incidents.