Stop Investigating Endpoints Like It’s 2015: A Free Roadmap to Becoming a Cloud SOC Analyst

Master AWS, Azure, and GCP defense without spending a dime. Here is the exact syllabus you need.

Let’s be honest: the traditional SOC analyst role is disappearing.

Ten years ago, if you knew how to investigate a Windows endpoint, check a firewall log, and run an antivirus scan, you were hired. Today? If you can’t navigate AWS CloudTrail, query logs in Azure, or hunt threats across GCP, you are fighting with one hand tied behind your back.

The attack surface has shifted to the cloud. Unfortunately, most training materials haven’t caught up or they are locked behind paywalls costing thousands of dollars.

That is why I created a completely FREE Cloud SOC Analyst Course. Whether you take my course or study on your own, here is the roadmap you need to follow to bridge the gap between traditional security operations and the modern cloud.

1. The Mindset Shift: Endpoint vs. Cloud

The biggest mistake traditional analysts make is treating a cloud instance like a physical server.

In the cloud, resources are ephemeral. An IP address you are investigating might belong to a crypto-mining botnet right now, but ten minutes ago, it belonged to a legitimate web server. You need to learn the “Cloud Investigator Mindset”:

• Understanding the Shared Responsibility Model.
• How to investigate resources that no longer exist.
• Moving from Disk Forensics to API Forensics.

2. Ditch the GUI: Master the Cloud CLIs

If you are clicking through the AWS console to find a log, you are already too slow.

Real-time incident response requires the Command Line Interface (CLI). You need to get comfortable with the terminals for the “Big 3”: Azure CLI, Google Cloud SDK, and AWS CLI.

Pro Tip: Learn jq. Cloud logs are almost exclusively JSON. If you can’t parse JSON on the command line, you can't hunt effectively.

3. The Logging Ecosystems

You cannot defend what you cannot see. Each provider has a specific “source of truth” for security events. You need to master:

• AWS: CloudTrail (Management events) and GuardDuty (Threat detection).
• Azure: Activity Logs and Microsoft Sentinel.
• GCP: Cloud Audit Logs (Admin Activity, Data Access, System Event).

4. The Cloud MITRE Matrix

You likely know the MITRE ATT&CK framework. But have you looked at the Cloud Matrix?

Attackers use different TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures) in the cloud. They don’t just “pass the hash”; they steal Instance Metadata credentials. They don’t just “lateral move” via SMB; they pivot through IAM roles. Understanding these nuances is critical.

The Practical Labs

Theory is useless without keyboard time. In my free course, I walk you through these exact scenarios:

1. Investigating AWS Compromise: Using CloudTrail and jq to find who created a backdoor user.
2. GCP Threat Hunting: Using Splunk to ingest and analyze Google Audit logs.
3. Azure Sentinel: Setting up a cloud-native SIEM to alert on suspicious activity.

I have packaged all of the above , the video lessons, the lab guides, and the datasets , into a comprehensive course.

Full Video Course

SOC Analyst Manual

To help you on the job, I also created the SOC Analyst Manual, a PDF cheat sheet covering CLI commands, event IDs, and investigation checklists.

The Cloud SOC Analyst Manual (AWS-GCP-AZURE)

The Cloud SOC Field Guide: Multi-Cloud Forensics & Threat Hunting is a tactical, boots-on-the-ground manual…