Executive Summary
In the modern world, where financial flows, infrastructure projects, and property networks are increasingly digitized, security is no longer a back-office function — it’s a strategic business imperative. Security Operations Centers (SOCs) have become the nerve centers of organizational resilience across finance, real estate, and construction.
Yet most SOCs in these sectors remain overburdened, fragmented, and ill-equipped to deal with today’s threat landscape — let alone tomorrow’s.
This report explores how SOCs are transforming across these industries. Based on a survey of over 2,000 security leaders globally, and informed by sector-specific insights, we explore:
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Why SOCs are struggling with tool sprawl, alert fatigue, and skills shortages
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How AI, automation, and detection-as-code are redefining defense
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What financial institutions, property portfolios, and infrastructure leaders must do to modernize their SOCs
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How unified, collaborative SOC strategies are enabling cross-functional resilience
Part I: Why Traditional SOCs No Longer Suffice
The Shifting Risk Terrain
In finance, real estate, and construction, the digital attack surface is expanding fast:
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Finance faces AI-driven fraud, API abuse, and regulatory enforcement.
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Real estate is vulnerable to building management system (BMS) breaches, tenant data theft, and ransomware.
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Construction is exposed to field device intrusions, supply chain compromise, and insider risk.
Despite rising threats, most SOCs remain stuck:
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59% say they spend too much time on tool maintenance
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57% say data silos slow investigations
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46% of analysts say they spend more time configuring tools than defending the business
These numbers represent more than just operational friction — they reflect real-world exposure to financial loss, project delay, and reputational harm.
Part II: Security Operations in 2025 — Sector-by-Sector Challenges
Finance: From Reactive to Risk-Driven SOCs
Banks and financial institutions face a triple bind: increasing attack sophistication, skyrocketing regulatory pressure, and growing customer expectations for seamless security.
Key stats:
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70% say understaffing is their top challenge
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57% report compliance management as a skills gap
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50% experienced regulatory violations last year
Modern financial SOCs are moving toward real-time monitoring of transactions, automation of suspicious activity reporting (SAR), and embedding compliance into code through AI-enhanced detection.
But progress is uneven — many mid-sized banks and credit unions lack the resources or expertise to scale modern SOC practices, exposing themselves to audit failures and fraud risk.
Real Estate: Securing Buildings, Tenants, and Data
The digital transformation of real estate — driven by IoT, remote access, and cloud property management systems — has introduced tremendous efficiency, but also substantial risk.
Key challenges:
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Siloed tools for BMS, HVAC, access control, and OT systems
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Vendor access controls often lacking audit trails
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Limited visibility into Wi-Fi-connected tenant devices
The modern real estate SOC must do more than monitor networks — it must connect the dots between physical and digital environments, ensure compliance with data privacy laws, and build tenant trust in a post-breach world.
Construction: Hard Hats, Smart Threats
Construction SOCs face a unique environment: highly mobile, highly fragmented, and reliant on diverse third-party contractors and vendors. Projects are time-sensitive and often span jurisdictions with different regulations.
Stats:
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76% of construction SOCs spend more time on tool maintenance than defense
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95% report that their tools are dispersed and disconnected
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59% have low visibility into on-prem infrastructure
Top risks include:
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Ransomware on connected jobsite devices
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Compromise of digital blueprints and BIM data
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Phishing attacks during bid submission or payment cycles
Leading firms are piloting SOC strategies that embed security into the project lifecycle — from blueprint to buildout — with field-based threat detection, portable access control, and pre-integrated vendor validation systems.
Part III: What Future-Ready SOCs Are Doing Differently
1. Adopting Detection-as-Code for Precision and Speed
Detection-as-Code (DaC) brings the principles of software development into cybersecurity. With DaC:
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Threat detection logic becomes scalable, versioned, and testable
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Teams can react quickly to new TTPs (tactics, techniques, procedures)
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Alert fatigue is reduced through targeted logic
Currently, only 35% use DaC consistently — but 63% want to. SOCs in finance and construction are particularly interested in this approach due to the specificity of industry threats (e.g., wire fraud, HVAC intrusion).
2. Using Domain-Specific AI, Not Just General Tools
AI adoption is rising, but success depends on context. General tools (e.g., ChatGPT) can hallucinate or mishandle sensitive workflows.
Domain-specific AI:
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Knows SOC workflows (SIEM queries, anomaly scoring, log correlation)
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Supports regulated environments (FFIEC, GDPR, SOC 2, CMMC)
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Respects in-house data privacy protocols
63% of respondents say domain-specific AI significantly improves SOC performance.
Finance firms are leading adopters here, with AI-driven fraud detection and auto-investigation models for account compromise. Real estate leaders are exploring AI to triage access violations and automate incident reporting for tenant interactions.
3. Modernizing the Tech Stack: The Unified SOC Platform
Fragmentation is the SOC killer:
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78% say their security tools are disconnected
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69% say this causes major response delays
A modern SOC platform integrates:
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SIEM, SOAR, XDR
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Cloud infrastructure logs
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OT and IoT systems (especially in construction and real estate)
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Incident response workflows with HR, legal, and compliance
Unification brings:
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Faster response (59%)
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Reduced tool maintenance (53%)
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Better threat coverage across physical and cloud environments (49%)
4. Building a Collaborative Security Culture
SOCs of the future aren't just technical — they’re cross-functional. Cyber resilience now requires collaboration with:
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Legal (for breach disclosure and regulatory response)
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HR (for insider threats and offboarding)
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IT & OT teams (for remediation and system integrity)
Only 9% of respondents currently share data across departments regularly — but 40% expect this to become standard in the next 2 years.
Part IV: Strategic Recommendations for Sector Leaders
| Priority | Finance | Real Estate | Construction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tool Consolidation | Migrate legacy SIEM to unified platform | Integrate OT/BMS with IT security tools | Eliminate vendor-specific dashboards |
| AI Adoption | Deploy AI for transaction fraud detection | Use AI for tenant risk scoring and access anomalies | Automate detection from jobsite telemetry |
| Compliance Readiness | Automate audit trails, enforce SoD, integrate privacy by design | Centralize logs across facilities for GDPR compliance | Embed security in contractor onboarding |
| Detection Strategy | Build in-house DaC team, version detection logic | Deploy targeted detections for smart building anomalies | Monitor BIM data flows and access attempts |
| Workforce Strategy | Cross-train audit, fraud, and security teams | Partner with OT vendors for security integrations | Train PMs on threat indicators, not just IT admins |
Conclusion: SOCs as Strategic Engines of Resilience
The future belongs to organizations that treat cybersecurity not as a cost center, but as a driver of operational continuity, brand trust, and regulatory alignment. SOCs must become smarter, stronger, and more synchronized with every facet of the enterprise.
In finance, SOCs protect trust and capital.
In real estate, they safeguard tenants and property value.
In construction, they defend timelines, designs, and people.
2025 is the year to modernize your SOC — and lead your sector into a more secure, more resilient future.