Security Automation
Security automation was formally known to be the automation of cybersecurity controls, but in recent times this definition is now limited. Security automation is now used to detect and alleviate cyber threats in a machine-led way. More accurately security automation is an important orchestration component, and it is used to analyze security operation tasks without any intervention from a human. Series of tasks related to security workflow can be executed using security automation without manual effort.
At this point you may be wondering and asking; how does security automation work? The answer to this question is that the scope of security automation is unlimited. Nevertheless, there are different ways in which security automation can be applied.
Copying the investigative step that would have been taken by a security analyst
Usually, without security automation, an analyst is required to get notified at the site of any cyberthreat and he/she is required to compare the threat against already existing threat intel to confirm the nature of the threat. But with security automation, this action is skipped, and important parts of the cyber threat analysis are automatically carried out. This action saves time, therefore, increasing efficiency. Also, it is common for analysts to receive false positive alerts which can consume their time because investigations have to be made to ascertain if the threat is malicious or not. But with the aid of security automation, these actions are carried out automatically
For building, running and automating playbooks for more rapid and predictable incident response
It is common for security teams to lack documented processes, usually they rely on tribal knowledge to investigate and give a response to occurring incidents. This is not an efficient approach because the risk attached to this approach is high, especially when it comes to staff turn over. But with a playbook, it is easier to retain important internal knowledge needed by security operating team and security automation can then be used to ensure the constancy of some activities.
Helps to decide if additional investigation is needed
Security automation can help in reducing false positives and deal with the problem of bad alerts by taking care of actions that are related to bad alerts automatically. They filter alerts and determine the alerts that require the attention of the analyst pr additional investigation.
Automatically fix repetitive tasks to increase efficiency
Time is one of the enemies of the SOC team when it comes to threats. In many cases, the SOC team has a whole lot of alerts that require their attention, but due to the limited time, some are left unattended to. This is because of the repetitive and manual nature of the actions required to triage, investigate and respond to each alert. This problem can be fixed only through security automation thereby improving efficiency and proving more time for the team.
Carries out different remediation actions
When a cyberthreat is noticed by a security analyst, the action required to solve the problem needs to be investigated and the process required can be lengthy and tasking when done manually. But with the aid of security automation, this action is very fast and consistent.
