The rampant talent and skills shortage in cybersecurity is arguably most notable in SOC teams. Demand for security analysts alone is expected to be 150% higher than the average growth projected for all occupations, and it’s easy to see why: Migration to cloud technology and adoption of remote work continues to rapidly widen the scope and responsibilities of the SOC. Traditional attack surfaces and network perimeters are expanding to become more public and porous, exposing a host of new challenges and risks that teams must be able to proactively detect and defend.

Ultimately, adapting to today’s turbulent threat landscape requires SOC staff—especially analysts on the frontline of threat detection, triage, and response—to constantly upskill and stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated attacks and emerging risks. But which fundamental skills does the modern SOC analyst need to succeed in their role?

We surveyed 400 active cybersecurity professionals in the Hack The Box (HTB) database to find out. This report focuses on discovering what those on the frontlines of cybersecurity consider essential skills for SOC analysts. We also explored the career ambitions of offensive and defensive security professionals (and how leaders can adapt their upskilling strategy in response to retain and engage top talent).