SOC Analyst Level 1
Get job-ready for your first Security Operations Center role. Learn how to detect, triage, and respond to security incidents using industry-standard tools and frameworks.
Who this path is for
This path is for career changers, IT support staff and recent graduates who want their first Security Operations Center job. You should be comfortable with basic networking and operating system concepts. By the end you should be ready to work alerts on a Tier 1 SOC shift with a clear process for triage and escalation.
What you'll be able to do
- Recognize common attack types such as phishing, credential theft, malware and ransomware, and map them to MITRE ATT&CK techniques.
- Explain what a SIEM and a SOAR platform do, and how alerts move from raw logs to an analyst queue.
- Triage an alert: gather context, decide if it is a true or false positive, and document your reasoning.
- Follow the incident response lifecycle from detection through containment, eradication, recovery and lessons learned.
- Read Windows, Linux and authentication logs to spot suspicious logons, persistence and lateral movement.
- Write a short query to hunt for a specific behavior instead of waiting for an alert to fire.
What you'll cover
The Threat Landscape
Understand the types of attackers, their motivations, and the most common attack vectors targeting organizations today.
SIEM & SOAR
Master the tools that power every SOC: Security Information and Event Management systems and Security Orchestration platforms.
Incident Response
Learn the 6-phase IR lifecycle: preparation, identification, containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned.
Log Analysis & Threat Hunting
Learn to read Windows Event Logs, Linux syslogs, and network flow data to find attacker activity.
Knowledge Check
Related certifications
CompTIA Security+
The most common baseline certification in SOC job postings. It covers the security fundamentals this path assumes you will keep building on.
Free Security+ course →Microsoft Security Operations Analyst
The right next step if your SOC runs Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR, which is common in enterprise Microsoft environments.
Free SC-200 course →CompTIA CySA+
A vendor neutral analyst exam that goes deeper into detection and response once you have a little SOC experience.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the SOC Analyst Level 1 path take?
About 10 hours covers the four topic areas and the knowledge check. Add time in a home lab or a free SIEM trial so you practice reading real logs, not just reading about them.
What do I need to know before starting?
You should understand IP addresses, ports and the basics of Windows and Linux. If those are new to you, start with the Junior Cloud Architect path or the Security+ course first.
What job titles does this path prepare me for?
It targets roles such as SOC Analyst Tier 1, security operations analyst, junior incident responder and security monitoring analyst.
Path Summary
- Level
- Beginner
- Estimated time
- 10 hours
- Topics
- 4
- Resources
- 14
- Quiz questions
- 10
- Passing score
- 70% (7/10)