This practical guide distills over 20 years of frontline cybersecurity experience into an actionable playbook for analysts, SOC managers, architects, detection engineers, and threat hunters. Author Don Murdoch delivers expert insights designed to help teams improve quickly. Whether you're refining your current operations or launching a SOC from scratch, this book empowers you with proven, real-world techniques to defend against today's most persistent threats. Build and organize SOC teams for maximum operational impactUnderstand how to launch and execute a comprehensive telemetry, audit data, and SIEM deployment strategyCreate effective SOC use cases, including risk-based alertingDevelop and apply meaningful metrics to evaluate SOC effectiveness, analyst performance, and SIEM utilityIdentify advanced threats using real-world threat hunting techniques