Security automation is the machine-based execution of security actions with the power to programmatically detect, investigate and remediate cyberthreats with or without human intervention by identifying incoming threats, triaging and prioritizing alerts as they emerge, then responding to them in a timely fashion.
Security automation does most of the work for your security team, so they no longer have to weed through and manually address every alert as it comes in. Among other things, security automation can:
All of this can happen in seconds, without requiring any action from staff. With security automation, repetitive, time-consuming actions are taken out of the hands of security analysts so they can focus on more important, value-adding work. In addition, security automation can also provide rapid threat detection. According to research by ESG, IT teams ignore 74 percent of security events/alerts — even when they have security solutions in place — due to sheer volume. Not only can security automation detect and resolve these common issues, it also eliminates human error that comes with inexperience, work overload and negligence.
This article will cover the basics of security automation, including why it’s important for businesses, how security automation platforms and tools can create value and how to get started on implementation.
74 percent of security events/alerts are ignored by trained staff.
What is Security Automation: Contents
Cyberattacks are now happening every 39 seconds, according to a University of Maryland study, and organizations often receive thousands or even millions of alerts each month. Security staff today are tasked with monitoring a much larger attack surface than in prior years, including mobile devices, cloud infrastructure and IoT devices. In short, alerts are literally coming at them from everywhere.
Cyberattacks happen every 39 seconds.
Without security automation, analysts must resolve threats manually. This often entails investigating the issue and comparing it against the organization’s threat intelligence to determine its legitimacy, deciding on a course of action, then manually resolving the issue — all on potentially millions of alerts and often with incomplete data.
What’s more, many of these alerts are redundant, so analysts spend valuable time on repetitive tasks that keep them from more critical issues. Security automation, on the other hand, does much of this work for your security team. When an alert comes in, it immediately determines whether an action is required — based on previous responses to similar incidents — and if so, can automatically remediate the issue.
Meanwhile, security analysts have more time to focus on strategic planning, threat hunting and conducting deeper investigations — bringing more value to the business.
There are several signs indicating that your organization needs security automation, including a breach, lagging response times, overwhelming false positives and a need for more efficient and cost-effective operations.
While it’s safe to say that most organizations could benefit from security automation, they’re more likely to require or adopt it if:
A security automation platform is software that will execute a series of security actions across your entire infrastructure in a matter of seconds. The security automation platform is engaged when an incident is detected (via the network, a file scan, an email scan, and so on), and then responds accordingly. Security automation platforms offer:
Security automation integrates with firewalls, endpoint solutions and other IT products in your environment.
Security automation evolved as a hot topic for organizations and security teams thanks in large part to the exponential rise of cyberattacks. Prior to automation, security analysts were required to comb through, analyze and act on every alert — a feat that ultimately proved impossible to accomplish. The overwhelming number of threats demanded automated incident response to more rapidly identify and respond to a cyberattack or security breach.
While automated incident response helped with security issues, a more proactive approach was ultimately needed. From there came security automation, which offered a systematic, machine-based approach. That in turn grew into security automation and orchestration, the latter enabling connectivity between security tools and workflows.
Today, providers offer security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) systems, which automate both responses and corrections. (Note that vendors use varying and inconsistent terminology to describe their tools, so make sure you’re clear on what features you require from a security automation platform before you begin researching vendors.)
Security automation tools provide a dashboard view of incidents, response metrics and more.
Security automation is all about simplifying and making your security operations run more efficiently. By contrast, security orchestration connects all of your different security tools, so that they feed into one another, share information, and respond to incidents, even when the data is spread across a large network and multiple systems or devices.
Security automation and security orchestration are terms that are often used interchangeably, but the two platforms actually serve very different functions. Specifically, security automation reduces the time it takes to detect and respond to repetitive incidents and false positives, so alerts don’t linger unaddressed. It also frees security analysts’ time to focus on strategic tasks, like investigative research. However, security automation is limited in that each playbook addresses a known scenario with a prescribed course of action.
The two work in concert: Security automation deals with an array of single tasks, while security orchestration connects and speeds up the process from beginning to end — and security groups can maximize their efficiency and productivity when they adopt both.
There are numerous ways to generate value from security automation, which include establishing priorities for its use, developing playbooks and training staff. Follow these best practices to gain the most value from your security automation platform investment:
Getting started with security automation requires you to establish your needs, define use cases, and thoroughly research providers based on a myriad of criteria. And if you’re ready, here are a few ways how you can move forward with the big decision about which security automation platform to adopt.
For example, retailers are dealing with ransomware and phishing attacks at unprecedented levels. Automation can help to clear the deck of repetitive attacks and false positives so security analysts can investigate those cases more deeply and establish a long-term fix.
Before you consider vendors, work with your IT team and other leaders in the organization to pinpoint the problems you need to solve. Here are a few questions that can drive the conversation:
Security automation is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a must in today’s complex IT environment. Amid rising number and severity of cyber attacks, there’s a shortage of top-flight security talent. Automation maximizes the value (and engagement) of your best security analysts by automating mundane, tedious tasks.
Security automation allows you to drastically reduce your incident response and dwell times and stay ahead of threats. Incident response that could take hours — or even days — can be reduced to mere seconds. That means you’ll expose your business to fewer threats and better protect your customers, while protecting your business’s reputation and bottom line.