The superpower of Managed Detection and Response
The Security Operations Center (SOC) is the relentless guardian behind Barracuda Managed XDR. Staffed by elite cybersecurity professionals who live and breathe threat defense, Barracuda’s SOC operates 24/7/365, blending human expertise with advanced AI and automation to deliver security and peace of mind that no tool or platform alone can match.
SOC in action: real-world case files
Barracuda’s SOC is battle-tested. The SOC Case Files series offers a window into the daily reality of defending organizations against sophisticated threats. Each story is a detailed, technical account of how the SOC detects, contains and eradicates attacks.
Akira ransomware neutralized
- An Akira ransomware attack hacked an org’s remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools
- The SOC recognized “Living off the land” tactics
- Isolated and neutralized the threat within minutes
RansomHub ransomware exploit blocked
- Attackers exploited FortiGate firewall vulnerability, gained admin access
- The SOC detected suspicious logins and attempts to install RansomHub
- Quarantined affected devices, stopped attack and recovered the org’s systems
Impossible travel attack
- Hackers used victim’s credentials from two distant locations within minutes
- The SOC’s automated threat response suspended suspicious account
- Barracuda SOC prevented breach and alerted victim within minutes
SOC structure:
Six levels, five teams, one mission
Barracuda’s SOC is a group of dedicated cybersecurity experts. It is a mature, global, multi-tiered operation, employing a follow-the-sun approach. More than just a single room of analysts, the SOC is a distributed and coordinated network of specialized teams, each with a distinct focus, so that your security never sleeps. Combined, the SOC ensures every aspect of your business and its entry points are protected. This hierarchy ensures every alert, every anomaly and every customer concern is handled by the right expert, at the right time, anywhere in the world.
Blue Team - Detect Attacks
Defensive Security
Protect Systems and Data
Incident Guidance
Green Team - Endpoint Security
Endpoint Protection Management
Device Policy Management
Attack and Defend Exercises
Malware Analysis
Threat Hunting
Research and Development
Purple Team - Improve Efficiency
Collaborative Security
Improve both Red/Blue Team
Workflow Automation
Process Enhancements
Customer Escalations
Emerging Threats
Red Team - Exploit Weaknesses
Adversary Simulation
Use Case Development
Attack Detect Methods
Threat Intelligence
Threat Hunting
New Threats R&D
White Team
Quality Assurance
Compliance
Process
Cyber Analysts
Blue Team - Detect Attacks
Defensive Security
Protect Systems and Data
Incident Guidance
Endpoint Engineers
Green Team - Endpoint Security
Endpoint Protection Management
Device Policy Management
Attack and Defend Exercises
Malware Analysis
Threat Hunting
Research and Development
Sr. Cyber Analysts
Purple Team - Improve Efficiency
Collaborative Security
Improve both Red/Blue Team
Workflow Automation
Process Enhancements
Customer Escalations
Emerging Threats
Security Engineers
Red Team - Exploit Weaknesses
Adversary Simulation
Use Case Development
Attack Detect Methods
Threat Intelligence
Threat Hunting
New Threats R&D
SOC Leadership
White Team
Quality Assurance
Compliance
Process
SOC best practices and continuous improvement
Barracuda’s SOC is built on best practices that go beyond industry standards:
Runbooks and playbooks
Proprietary, SOC-authored procedures ensure consistent, rapid and effective response to every alert.
Continuous training
Analysts participate in red/blue/purple team exercises and hackathons, and commit to ongoing education to stay ahead of evolving threats.
Metrics and outcomes
The SOC measures mean time to detect, mean time to respond, SLA performance, and customer satisfaction, constantly refining processes to deliver better outcomes.
Relentless threat hunting and proactive defense
Threat hunting at Barracuda is a continuous, foundational discipline. Within Barracuda’s SOC, this is formalized as the Emerging Threats Process: a structured, weekly cycle where analysts research new vulnerabilities and attacker tactics. They develop hypotheses, validate indicators of compromise and proactively hunt for threats that automated tools might miss. This ongoing exercise is a core differentiator for Barracuda’s SOC and a testament to its commitment to staying ahead of adversaries.
Weekly Cycle
Research new vulnerabilities and attack tactics
Develop hypotheses
Validate indicators of compromise (IoCs)
Hunt for threats that automated tools might miss
AI and human judgment — together
The SOC works from one of the industry’s largest threat intelligence databases, comprising 11 billion indicators of compromise (IoCs) and growing every day. It is bolstered by a continuously learning AI engine and hundreds of machine learning-enhanced detection rules aligned to the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
But technology alone is not enough. The SOC’s real power is in how it combines these tools with human intuition, creativity and experience. Analysts go above and beyond chasing alerts — building context, correlating signals, validating threats, and ensuring that nothing is missed while every response is precise.
Global, always on, and award winning
Follow-the-sun model
With SOC analysts in the US, EMEA, APAC, and beyond, Barracuda delivers 24/7/365 coverage so that your security never sleeps.
Industry recognition
Barracuda Managed XDR and its SOC have been named Best SecOps Solution (Tech Ascension Awards), XDR Solution of the Year (CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards) and have won multiple Global InfoSec Awards for innovation, service and vision.
Customer impact
The SOC’s work is reflected in customer success webinars, testimonials and case studies, with organizations praising the team’s responsiveness, expertise and ability to stop threats that others miss.
How our SOC delivers on SLAs
Barracuda Managed XDR’s SOC is built on a foundation of clear, measurable Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that ensure customers receive rapid, expert response to every security alert. Our SLAs are designed to prioritize what matters most—speed, reliability and peace of mind.
Three-tiered SLA structure
High risk alerts
- Response within 20 minutes
- For critical threats, our SOC initiates a phone call and email/ticket integration — typically within minutes — to ensure immediate action.
Medium risk alerts
- Response within 1 hour
- Timely email/ticket updates keep your team informed and protected.
Low risk alerts
- Response within 8 hours
- Routine alerts are handled efficiently, with updates delivered via email/ticket integration.
SOC performance: proven results
Alert SLA achievement
Our SOC meets or exceeds SLA targets for alerts 96+% of the time.
Call SLA achievement
For phone calls related to high-risk alerts, our SOC regularly achieves 90+% SLA compliance rate.
Why it matters
Rapid response
Our SOC’s commitment to these SLAs ensures threats are contained before they escalate — minimizing risk and business disruption due to downtime.
Continual improvement
Barracuda continuously tracks and analyzes monthly SLA achievement metrics, driving faster response times and an ever-better customer experience.
Accountability
SLAs are more than promises — they’re transparent, measurable outcomes that hold our SOC to the highest standards of operational excellence.
Barracuda’s SOC:
People + process + technology
What truly sets Barracuda’s SOC apart is the synergy of world-class talent, proven processes and cutting-edge technology. The SOC is committed to giving customers peace of mind from a security partner they can trust.
The SOC is Barracuda’s superpower.
It’s the difference between a checkbox and real protection.
It’s the difference between generic alerts and actionable insight.
It’s the difference between reactive defense and proactive cybersecurity leadership.
Technical spotlight:
STAR rule engineering
The Green Team in Barracuda’s SOC specializes in authoring and optimizing STAR rules—bespoke detection logic deployed across endpoints to rapidly identify and contain sophisticated threats, including ransomware. This continuous rule engineering ensures customer environments are proactively safeguarded from high-impact incidents.
Book your Barracuda Managed XDR demo today
