From zero to 24/7: Always-on defence for iGaming and player safety

From zero to 24/7: Always-on defence for iGaming and player safety

Summary

Authors: Evgeny Zaretskov (SOFTSWISS group CISO) and Amir Aliev (deputy CSO) outline why iGaming needs an always-on Security Operations Centre (SOC) and how SOFTSWISS built a practical, cost-conscious 24/7 SOC tailored to the industry.

The article covers the unique pressures of real-money gaming (global, continuous traffic and regulatory scrutiny), recent high-impact incidents (Stake, MetaWin, Duelbits, Bragg) that illustrate the stakes, and the architectural choices SOFTSWISS made: an open-source, automation-first stack using ClickHouse for fast log ingestion, Sigma + MITRE ATT&CK for portable detections, Catalyst and Shuffle for orchestration, Flare for leak monitoring, ChatOps and ticketing integrations, and a heavy emphasis on log assurance and speed metrics (MTTD, MTTA, MTTR).

Key Points

1. iGaming operates 24/7 worldwide — downtime or slow response can immediately damage revenue, licences and player trust.
2. High-profile breaches (Stake 2023, MetaWin 2024, Duelbits 2024, Bragg 2025) show attackers target liquidity, wallets and credentials; nation-state and profit-driven actors both pose threats.
3. Standard enterprise SOC tools and commercial SOAR/IRP licences are often unsuitable or unaffordable for multi-brand iGaming operators.
4. SOFTSWISS built an open-source, automation-first SOC stack: ClickHouse (log factory), Sigma + MITRE ATT&CK (detections), Catalyst (IRP) and Shuffle (SOAR) for orchestration.
5. Leak monitoring (Flare) and credential hygiene are prioritised — leaked credentials often precede breaches.
6. ChatOps and direct ticketing integrations reduce context switching and speed up acknowledgement and response.
7. Automation shifts analysts away from noisy triage to threat hunting and complex investigations; Incident Managers coordinate business-aligned response.
8. Log assurance (completeness and fidelity) is fundamental: a SOC is only as good as its data feed into the detection pipeline.
9. Core SOC metrics (MTTD, MTTA, MTTR, false positive rate, coverage & automation) are treated as business-critical KPIs for regulators, partners and players.
10. Open-source tooling plus automation delivers scalability and cost-efficiency while preserving portable detection knowledge across brands.

Context and relevance

This piece is important for operators, security teams and regulators in the iGaming sector. It ties concrete incident lessons to architectural responses and demonstrates a repeatable, pragmatic SOC design that balances speed, cost and regulatory needs. With cyber threats increasingly targeting financial rails and credentials, the article is a timely blueprint for organisations that must protect continuous, real-time revenue streams across multiple jurisdictions.

Why should I read this?

Because if you run or secure any part of a gambling platform, this is the operational handbook you didn’t know you needed. It explains — in plain terms — how to stop being reactive and start running a SOC that actually keeps the lights on (and the payouts flowing) at 03:00. Short, actionable and built from real incidents.

Author style

Punchy. The authors cut through theory and show what worked (and why), making the case that 24/7 SOCs are survival tools, not compliance checkboxes. If you care about uptime, player trust or licences, read the detail.

Source

Source: https://next.io/news/promoted/always-on-defence-for-igaming-and-player-safety/