Cybersecurity Professional Career Paper: SOC Analysist
Student Name: Benjamin Rivera Medina
School of Cybersecurity, Old Dominion University
CYSE 201S: Cybersecurity and Social Sciences
Instructor Name: Dr. Quinn
Date: April 10, 2026
Introduction
Technology has been advancing at a rapid pace ever since the introduction of the internet. Furthermore, artificial intelligence has only contributed to the advancement in technology. This has led to a need for cybersecurity due to the rise of cyber threats to organizations. This would eventually lead to the need for cybersecurity roles for businesses as a line of defense against cyber-attacks. One of these roles is a security operations center analyst. A SOC analyst’s responsibility is to monitor, detect, and respond to cyber threats to protect business assets. This paper will highlight how the roles and responsibilities of this job align with social science principles and key concepts from this course.
Social science principles
A security operations center analyst role can involve analysis and interpretation of social science principles and research. To illustrate, a SOC analyst must analyze different elements and events that can relate to cyber threats and exploits. This relates to the principle of relativism because breaches occur through the connection of multiple events. To illustrate, a weak password leads to a successful password crack which a lack of multifactor authentication leads to successful access which leads to a breach. Incidents that occur tend to have various connected factors that all contribute collectively to a breach.
Another social science principle that is used in the SOC analyst’s work environment is parsimony. During an incident or breach, tension and stress can be high which can impact judgement and decision making. This can result in impulse decision making and inefficient time management when attempting to respond, contain, and recover business assets. Analysts must avoid unnecessary steps and only concern themselves with how to contain the threat in the least number of steps. Incident response plans are an effective strategy for when incidents occur as they give a framework on what steps to take during an incident.
Social science principles and concepts can also aid in developing cybersecurity awareness training. Understanding behavior analytics and human factors can help give insight into why someone may fall for a social engineering attack. Cognitive bias and optimism bias can make an individual more susceptible to a phishing attack (Psychology of Cybersecurity and Human Behavior, 2025). This knowledge can be used in cybersecurity awareness education by reducing cognitive overload and educating on cultivating safe habits online for all staff.
Application of Key Concepts
Security operations center analysts must use an interdisciplinary strategy when creating security postures. Human factors and behavior play an influential role in a business’s security posture. “Breaches such as the 2020 Twitter hack illustrates how attackers can bypass advanced technological safeguards by targeting human vulnerabilities” (Khadka & Ullah, 2025). SOC analysts collect user behavior to create a benchmark for what is considered normal behavior to configure systems to alert of abnormal behavior. This requires an understanding of human factors, behavior, and psychology.
Another key concept that is integrated into a SOC analyst’s daily routine is cybercriminal motives. The motives of cybercriminals can give SOC analyst vital information in understanding targets and prevention methods. To illustrate, a cybercriminal with a financial motive is likely to target credit card information or customer information. However, an insider threat actor is likely to target trade secrets or sensitive internal data. These motives inform a SOC analyst who or what information is targeted and how to prioritize certain alerts to detect and prevent breaches. Knowing this information, a SOC analyst might configure an intrusion detection system to monitor and alert for suspicious access to financial services or brute force attempts. Finally, SOC analysts heavily examine and utilize principles of psychology to understand threat vectors and mitigate risk. “Victim precipitation is the study of understanding a victim’s behaviors and how it contributed to their exploitation” (Yalpi, 2026). SOC analysts must understand this to create cybersecurity awareness training to educate on safe practices when online and what is considered risky behavior. In addition, this understanding of behavior allows SOC analysts to set a benchmark for normal behavior and create alerts for abnormal behavior.
Marginalization
Concerns regarding marginalized groups are apparent within the field of cybersecurity. First, marginalized groups may be stereotyped and assumed to not have as much technical skills as other groups. This results in marginalized groups having to prove themselves to clients and peers to seem knowledgeable. Furthermore, cybersecurity education or training may ignore cultural differences in communication which could negatively impact marginalized groups. Finally, SOC tools can potentially be challenging for individuals with disorders such as ADHD or dyslexia. SOC analysts can mitigate harm to marginalized groups by creating a safe cultural work environment, creating tools accessible to everyone, and eliminating bias and discrimination from discission making and policy creation.
Career Connection to Society
Security operations center analysts contribute positively to society in a variety of ways. First, SOC analysts protect individuals from cyber threats such as identity theft, social engineering techniques, ransomware attacks, and various other malicious attacks. In addition, SOC analysts also protect critical infrastructure and their assets such as schools, banks, and hospitals. Finally, SOC analyst promotes ethical use of data through data regulations and privacy laws. Cybercrime laws define illegal activities regarding malicious cyber activity such identity theft and hacking. These regulations discourage individuals from committing cybercrime and penalize those who do.
Scholarly Journal Articles
Psychology of Cybersecurity and Human Behavior: This article summaries the psychological factors that can influence cybersecurity behavior both positively and negatively. Factors can include cognitive bias, behavioral habits, and huma factors.
Human factors in cybersecurity: Article supports the idea that human behavior is one of the biggest vulnerabilities that most businesses have. The article supports the principle of relativism as human behavior is connected to a range of factors regarding security postures.
Data presentation in SOC: Article touches on the responsibilities and techniques that security operations center analyst uses to protect critical infrastructure. The scholarly source goes in-depth on the societal
benefits of SOC analyst such as protection of critical infrastructure and protection of digital information.
Conclusion
A security operations center analyst is just one of many cybersecurity occupations that protect business assets and sensitive information. SOC analysts implement a variety of principles and concepts of social science to prevent and mitigate cyber threats. In addition, they also contribute heavily to society and can mitigate harm to marginalized groups. The following stated is why cybersecurity will continue to be a relevant industry, and why its presence keeps society and businesses safe.
References
Axon, L., AlAhmadi, B. A., Nurse, J. R., Goldsmith, M., & Creese, S. (20202, January 24). Data presentation in security operations centres: exploring the potential for sonification to enhance existing practice. From Journal of Cybersecurity: https://watermark02.silverchair.com/tyaa004.pdftoken=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW
_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAA2MwggNfBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggNQMIIDTAIBAD
CCA0UGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMkMrZdh7PR9yuoIo4AgEQ
gIIDFltYEWu1yOJR6p_AM_tZhRDVSuorJmVAWtP0_vpDUBwi1
Khadka, K., & Ullah, A. B. (2025, April 29). Human factors in cybersecurity: an interdisciplinary review and framework proposal. From International Journal of Information Security file:///C:/Users/Bxrm7/Downloads/s10207-025-01032-0.pdf
Psychology of Cybersecurity and Human Behavior. (2025, March 4). From Identity Management
Institute: https://identitymanagementinstitute.org/psychology-of-cybersecurity-and-
human-behavior/ Yalpi, D. (2026, January). CYSE 201S – Study Guide- Module #1 to Module #7. PowerPoint Slides