Alert fatigue is a growing concern in cybersecurity, especially for businesses managing their own Security Operations Centers (SOC). With the constant influx of alerts from Endpoint Monitoring services, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, and Managed Detection and Response (MDR) logs, security teams often find themselves overwhelmed. When every ping demands attention, it’s easy for critical threats to slip through the cracks.
The evolution of Security Operation Centers (SOCs) in healthcare focuses on safeguarding patient data and meeting strict regulations like HIPAA. Modern SOCs leverage AI and machine learning for advanced threat detection, addressing challenges like securing legacy systems and connected medical devices.
Collaboration between IT and clinical teams is crucial to creating holistic security strategies. Managed SOC services can ease workloads for internal teams while ensuring strong, tailored cybersecurity defenses. This shift highlights the importance of proactive, collaborative approaches to meet healthcare’s unique security needs.
For example, I work with a healthcare company that focuses on big computation data for cancer patients powered by machine learning and generative AI, that company we are monitoring on a monthly basis will generate at least 32 million events per account. Of those events, about 45 alerts are generated daily and on average 1350 alerts are generated monthly. 50% of those alerts are going to security related events that require investigation, follow-up, and in some incidents a full-scale response plan triggered that will bring together all hands-on deck.
If investigations take on average 4-8hours, that’s 180-360 hours per day required to thoroughly review, collaborate and resolve. Staffing a in-house team would be costly so a third-party security team would be a cheaper alternative to automate and highlight security issues that require attention and eliminate the noise of alerts.
While in-house SOCs provide dedicated security focus, their primary responsibility is maintaining systems—not necessarily fine-tuning alerts or questioning their validity with a partner-level scrutiny. The need to balance daily operations and system maintenance leaves limited time for proactive threat analysis, leading to inefficiencies and missed opportunities for optimization.
Additionally, operating an in-house SOC is expensive. As businesses scale, the cost of hiring, training, and retaining a full-fledged security team grows exponentially. Many smaller healthcare companies lack the resources to support such expansions, and gaps in security and compliance can form, leaving businesses and sensitive healthcare data vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Healthcare organizations seeking relief from alert fatigue and operational overhead can turn to partnered SOC solutions. By offloading SOC workloads to experienced security service providers, businesses gain access to a larger team of specialized analysts at a fraction of the cost of maintaining an in-house operation. This strategic approach not only enhances security effectiveness but also reduces financial strain.
Dedicated healthcare cybersecurity companies, such as ClearDATA, specialize in HITRUST compliance and healthcare security, ensuring focused expertise in regulatory security needs. These partnerships bring depth to threat intelligence, quicker reaction times, and a refined approach to alert management—leading to stronger overall defense strategies.
In-House SOC:
An in-house SOC provides the highest degree of control and customization. Organizations can tailor tooling, processes, data handling, and priorities to meet specific operational and compliance needs. However, maintaining full operational control is costly—typically requiring a team of around five full-time employees to maintain a 24/7 SOC.
ClearDATA SOC:
With an outsourced SOC like ClearDATA’s, customers gain a joint response plan tailored to their specific escalation paths and required actions. Outsourced SOCs operate 24/7 and are staffed by larger, dedicated teams of experts. While customization is more limited compared to in-house models, ClearDATA provides predefined playbooks and healthcare-specific workflows to maintain flexibility and alignment with industry needs.
In-House SOC:
Standing up an internal SOC can take months or longer, requiring significant time to hire staff, deploy technology, and tune detections before the system reaches full operational maturity.
ClearDATA SOC:
ClearDATA’s SOC offers rapid deployment—typically going live in weeks. Customers quickly gain access to monitoring and response capabilities, accelerating time to value without the burden of complex setup or hiring delays.
In-House SOC:
Running a SOC internally means hiring, training, and retaining cybersecurity analysts, engineers, and managers—roles that are in extremely high demand. The tight labor market increases costs and turnover risks, adding to operational strain.
ClearDATA SOC:
ClearDATA provides access to a team of certified experts (CISSP, CCSP, HCISPP) who bring deep healthcare and cloud security experience. This eliminates staffing shortages, reduces HR overhead, and ensures consistent 24/7 coverage by skilled professionals.
In-House SOC:
Scaling an internal SOC often requires additional staff and infrastructure investments. Expanding into new clouds, workloads, or geographies increases both cost and complexity.
ClearDATA SOC:
ClearDATA delivers elastic scaling that supports rapid onboarding of new cloud accounts, mergers and acquisitions, or increased log volume—all with predictable cost structures. This flexibility allows healthcare organizations to adapt faster to growth or regulatory changes.
In-House SOC:
Threat detection in an in-house SOC depends heavily on internal staff skills and bandwidth. Limited visibility or alert coverage can leave gaps in security, especially during off-hours or peak load periods.
ClearDATA SOC:
ClearDATA’s 24/7 monitoring integrates global threat intelligence and automated playbooks for faster Mean Time to Response (MTTR). Dedicated incident responders ensure continuous protection against evolving cyber threats targeting healthcare environments.
In-House SOC:
Operating a SOC internally involves high fixed costs, including salaries, benefits, training, infrastructure, and software licenses. The return on investment (ROI) depends on the organization’s scale and maturity, and ongoing expenses can be difficult to predict.
ClearDATA SOC:
With a predictable subscription or usage-based model, ClearDATA’s SOC offers lower upfront investment and more financial flexibility. Costs scale with log volume or advanced service needs, ensuring healthcare organizations pay only for what they use while gaining enterprise-grade protection.
When evaluating security operations strategies, healthcare organizations often face the decision of whether to build an in-house SOC or partner with an outsourced provider. An in-house SOC is typically best suited for larger organizations with deep budgets, advanced cybersecurity expertise, and a need for maximum control over protected health information (PHI) and regulatory processes.
However, for most providers, payers, and life sciences companies, an outsourced SOC offers a more cost-effective and scalable option. With faster time to value, built-in healthcare compliance expertise, and 24/7 monitoring and response—without the staffing and retention challenges—outsourced SOCs can provide a strong balance of security, efficiency, and peace of mind.
Artificial Intelligence is shaping the future of intelligent monitoring. AI-driven security solutions provide automated threat detection, enhanced pattern recognition, and predictive analytics. However, AI is not foolproof—its effectiveness depends on the quality of its training data and ongoing refinements. A partnered SOC ensures that AI-driven monitoring is supplemented by human expertise, bridging gaps where automation may fall short.
AI compliance in healthcare requires specialized knowledge and tools. ClearDATA understands the unique requirements of healthcare organizations utilizing AI to advance patient and business outcomes.
Our approach includes:
When new tools emerge, such as Amazon Bedrock, we provide practical guidance through our CRAs to help healthcare organizations leverage these innovations safely.
Alert fatigue is a real challenge for healthcare organizations, as teams are overwhelmed by signals from endpoint monitoring tools, SIEMs, and MDR logs. In-house SOCs, while dedicated, often focus more on system upkeep than on questioning or fine-tuning alerts, leaving organizations reactive instead of proactive.
Running an internal SOC is also costly and hard to scale. By partnering with a specialized SOC, businesses can reduce overhead while gaining access to a larger team of analysts at a more competitive price.
ClearDATA healthcare-specific expertise, including HITRUST and regulatory compliance, ensuring both security and adherence. AI-driven monitoring is valuable, but partnering with a specialized SOC takes it a step further by delivering faster, more effective responses. This partnership minimizes alert fatigue and allows organizations to dedicate their energy to patient care and innovation.
A well-structured security strategy involves balancing technology, expert human oversight, and operational efficiency. By leveraging partnered SOC solutions, businesses can overcome alert fatigue, improve threat response times, and strengthen their overall security posture—all while reducing overhead costs.