Ruslan Rakhmetov, Security Vision
The architecture of a modern SOC center is based on three classes of solutions:SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) for managing security information and events, SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) for orchestration, Automation, and response, andXDR (eXtended Detection and Response) for advanced detection and response. But as these technologies evolve, their functions overlap, and in some cases they become interchangeable. So we decided to talk about these classes of solutions and how they are related. First, let's look at how these classes of solutions appeared and how they work. Then we'll talk about the differences between the approaches that focus on agents and the network, as well as the indispensability of each of the products. In the end, we will discuss system integration and how to achieve synergy in data protection and infrastructure in general.
SOC Visibility Triad
XDR or SOAR
Unique differences: what each tool is essential for
SIEM, SOAR and EDR/XDR synergy
From a log archive to agentive intelligence
SOC Visibility Triad
Системы SIEM systems are the oldest core of any information security monitoring center, and they appeared earlier than their counterparts in this review. Therefore, first of all, we will tell you how systems for responding (based on the orchestrator or based on endpoints) were created. To understand this evolution to the XDR platform, it is necessary to recall the "SOC visibility triad" introducedby Gartner analysts. Experts realized that collecting logs in SIEM alone is not enough to detect complex attacks, as attackers have learned to hide their actions from audit logs. Logs (SIEM), endpoint monitoring (EDR), and deep network traffic analysis (NDR) were required simultaneously.
EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) is installed directly on end devices (employee laptops, corporate servers) as agents. Such lightweight programs are deeply integrated into the operating system and collect detailed telemetry about each running process, changes in the registry, code injection into RAM, and the creation of new files. Unlike the old antivirus, EDR detects disembodied attacks and abnormal behavior of legitimate programs. An EDR can be compared to a personal bodyguard assigned to every important corporate executive. The bodyguard does not monitor the streets of the city, his only task is to constantly follow his ward (server), check everyone who approaches him, and in case of danger, instantly hide the boss behind an armored door (isolate the host from the network).
NDR (Network Detection and Response) appeared similarly, only they were built on the basis of centralized analysis of network traffic. It's like traffic police on high-speed highways connecting different cities (servers). The traffic police do not care what happens inside each individual house in the city (this is the work of EDR), they monitor the flow of cars on the highway. And if an armored van with no license plates is speeding along the highway, the police intercept this van on the move.
XDR or SOAR
After the formation of the visibility triad, there was a need for an expanded response to threats, and this response (the letter R in the abbreviation with the prefix "advanced") was strengthened.
- On the one hand, since SIEM generates thousands of alerts (alerts) a day, analysts began to suffer and SOAR appeared on the cybersecurity scene to prevent analysts from burning SOAR out. This system does not search for threats itself, but takes a signal from SIEM and starts the playbook, an automatic response script.
- On the other hand, by the 2020s, it became clear that the SIEM+SOAR bundle requires engineers to configure data parsers and write scripts.XDR came on the scene. This out-of-the-box platform combines deep telemetry (network, endpoints, cloud, mail), analyzes it itself using machine learning, and hasbuilt-in mechanisms for instant response on the ground.
This led to XDR systemsthat focused on agents, and SOAR, which took a more central place in the SOC, responsible for overall orchestration and automation.
Both systems are focused on responsiveness and can be used interchangeably, but SOAR should be enhanced by integration with EDR (or an additional module based on a common platform, like Security Vision), and XDR lacks playbooks and common orchestration, i.e. it needs to be closely integrated with dozens of existing systems.
Unique differences: what each tool is essential for
Despite the trend of interchangeability, in mature enterprise infrastructures, each tool is assigned itsown unique and inimitable role. The difference lies in the placement of accents:
а) SIEM (Focus on Data) can store petabytes of logs from systems for years to pass government audits and investigate attacks five years ago. But it requires manual configuration of parsers for each type of logs and creates a huge amount of "white noise" from false Positives Positives.
b) XDR (Focus on Analytics) usesvendor ML models to search for complex attacks without having to spend months writing and maintaining thousands of custom parsing rules. However, it is limited to certain data sources (most often the ecosystem of a single vendor) and is not intended for long-term log storage.
c) SOAR (Focus on Processes) goes beyond security. Only SOAR can use the API to create aticket in Jira, send text messages to lawyers, freeze an account in the HR database, and coordinate the actions of dozens of different departments. But the classic SOAR itself does not see or detect anything. If you send garbagealerts to the SOAR input, it simply automates incomprehensible processes, so it always needs to "feed" something to the input.
SIEM, SOAR and EDR/XDR synergy
In 2026, these technologies are not mutually exclusive; on the contrary, they form a multi-layered layered shield.
In practice, their joint work looks like a "Hub-and-Spoke" model:
1) EDR/XDR is at the forefront. It acts as a "sharp vision" and a system of fast unconditional reflexes. The platform collects high-precision telemetry, automatically detects threats using machine learning, and instantly blocks up to 80% of typical and complex attacks on the fly (for example, isolates an infected laptop from the network).
2) After the threat is localized, XDR sends a clean, high-precision incident to SIEM. In SIEM, this incident is mapped to global data that XDR does not see (for example, logs of physical turnstiles (ACS) in a building or ERPsystem transactions). SIEM also archives all traces of the attack to comply with the laws.
3) If you need a complex, multi-step response that goes beyond the IT infrastructure (for example, creating a ticket in Jira, blocking a user in Active Directory, sending an official report to the legal department and SMS to the CIO), SIEM passes the task to SOAR. SOAR launches a playbook, that guides the entire remediation process.
From a log archive to agentive intelligence
The development of monitoring center security systems is a story of dealing with the growing volume of data and lack of time. The evolution was gradual, responding to the new challenges of cybercriminals.
So in the era of data collection, SIEM-systems, eyes, and infrastructure memory were at the center of the SOC. Like a complex network of video cameras that outputs streams to the security guard's console, the system highlights the robber with a red square (alert). But the cameras don't know how to put handcuffs on themselves.
The age of deep context brought us XDR, a single agent-based intelligence. While the patrolman sees only a broken lock, our Sherlock matches the clay on the carpet with the thief's shoe, the strange barking of a dog and the train schedule, building a single picture and immediately detaining the criminal if he can reach him.
And in the era of automation, SOAR, the muscles and reflexes of the company's perimeter, developed. It receives signals from the network and agents, launching processes and calling the police cordon off the area, turns on a loud alarm and calls the company's defenders, generating reports and collecting all IT and information security systems under its "umbrella".
This synergy creates an invulnerable digital shield that can not only fend off today's sophisticated cyberattacks, but also adapt autonomously to the threats of tomorrow, which we wish all companies and readers of this article.
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