Security automation is the use of automated processes and technology employed to ease the difficulties security teams encounter, which include limited resources and the complexity of managing various security tools. It also encompasses the coordination of workflows and the execution of repetitive tasks on a large scale and at high speeds. As a result, security teams are able to concentrate on more advanced tasks that require human intelligence and cognitive skills. 

Most organizations start with automating low-impact response actions like vulnerability patching, blocking malicious domains, resetting user credentials, and data restoration from backups. With the reduction in repetitive time-consuming tasks your team gets time back for analysis, containment, and incident management. You can also implement security automation into detection and investigation processes for use cases such as alert enrichment, threat intelligence lookups, etc. 

Force-Multiplying Your Security Team

Automation works in harmony with the skills and expertise of your team, empowering them to make more informed decisions and enhancing their overall effectiveness.

Streamlining Threat Qualification and Investigation

Automation speeds up identifying and verifying potential threats, enabling faster response times and reducing the risk of delays or oversight.

Normalizing Data

By automating data normalization, you pave the way for effective alert orchestration, ensuring that all data is organized and structured consistently, leading to more accurate and meaningful insights.

Quicker Response

Organizations can decrease mean time to respond (MTTR) and the dwell time of the potentially malicious activity with response actions include isolating compromised systems, patching vulnerabilities, blocking malicious domains/IPs, and more.

Reduce Alert Noise 

Incident Detection 

Use of machine-learning to analyze data logs and identify abnormalities or patterns of suspicious activity and flag them for further investigation. 

Ticket Triage 

Automatic de-duplication, correlation, and prioritization of tickets based on their severity level or other criteria, reduce alert noise and allow your team to focus on the most critical alerts. 

Speed Up Investigation 

Alert Enrichment 

Automated collection and analysis of threat intelligence from internal and external sources for enriched threat alerting, quicker investigations and proactive identification of risks. 

Vulnerability Management 

Automatically scan for available patches, deploy to affected systems, and verify installation. This reduces the chance of human error and ensures timely patching. 

Reduce MTTR 

User Notifications 

Automated user notifications can be integrated into existing workflows or incident management systems. Integration enables notifications to be captured, tracked, and escalated seamlessly. Users can acknowledge, respond, or escalate notifications directly within the system or application. 

Response Playbooks 

Automated, predefined incident response processes for standardized investigations and mitigation attempts allow your team to take faster containment and remediation actions.  

• Overstretched security teams and incomplete investigations. 
• Highly repetitive tasks taking up valuable time. 
• Inefficiencies due to manual workflows spanning multiple security tools.
• Management of multiple tools each with unique workflows. 

Security Operations Platforms 

A security operation platform includes AI-driven analysis capabilities to automate the investigation and collection of data related to an alert, reducing the manual effort required to respond to alerts. Platforms using AI can automate data collection relevant to incoming alerts, automatically aggregate artifacts from various security technologies (SIEM, EDR, etc.), and normalize the data using a universal query language.

SIEM Tools 

SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) tools help accomplish security automation by collecting, analyzing, and correlating security events and logs from various sources, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus software. 

EDR Tools 

EDR tools automate various security tasks like using advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms to proactively search for threats. They can automatically analyze large volumes of data, identify patterns, and detect anomalies that may indicate a compromise. In terms of incident response, EDR tools can automatically gather and analyze data from affected endpoints, prioritize incidents based on severity, and provide actionable insights for security analysts. They can also integrate with other security tools, such as SIEM and SOAR platforms, to streamline the response process.  

Threat Intelligence Platforms 

Threat intelligence platforms can automatically gather threat data from various sources, such as open-source intelligence, commercial feeds, and internal sources. 

SOAR Platforms 

A Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) platform is a tool focused on automating and orchestrating security operations processes, especially response actions. It integrates with some security tools like firewalls and intrusion detection systems to automatically trigger responses based on predefined rules, workflows, or playbooks. 

Identify Time-Consuming, Low-Value Tasks 

Examine IT and security operations to find tasks that take up too much time, are monotonous, but don’t require advanced qualifications. These tasks hinder cyber analysis every day.

Begin with the Simple Tasks 

By automating the simple, time-consuming tasks, like querying technologies or resetting passwords, you can achieve quick wins and a better Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR). 

Leverage Existing Tools to Automate Security Procedures 

Discover methods to utilize the capabilities of your team and leverage the technological investments you have already.  

Prepare for Changes in Standard Operating Procedures 

Be prepared to modify the way your team approaches certain tasks, reallocate physical resources, and change operating procedures for individuals who will be significantly impacted once automation is deployed within your environment.  

Will It Stop Ongoing Threats from Spreading? 

What’s the effectiveness of the automation? Does it ensure an immediate and effective countermeasure to prevent further damage of an ongoing threat?

Is It A Routine Action? 

Will it free up time? Is the automation a routine and well-established task that humans usually take? 

Does It Impact Critical Business Activity? 

Does the automation impact productivity or service delivery? Will it maintain operational efficiency while addressing threats?

Is It Within Acceptable Risk Tolerance? 

Is the automated response within the organization’s acceptable risk parameters and overall cybersecurity strategy? 

Can You Reverse It If Needed? 

Can you reverse the automated action if the initial detection is incorrect or circumstances change?