Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR)

Introduction

Threat management, security operations automation and incident response are the three main areas of concentration for Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR). Without the constant requirement for human engagement, SOAR platforms can rapidly assess, detect, intervene, or search through situations and processes.

SOAR technology allows actions between various people and tools to be organized, carried out, and automated on a single platform. This enhances an organization’s security posture by enabling swift response to cybersecurity threats, observation, comprehension, and prevention of subsequent occurrences.

According to Gartner’s definition, threat and vulnerability management, security incident response, and security operations automation are the three main software capabilities that make up a complete SOAR system. This article covers detailed knowledge of Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR).

SOAR capabilities include:

• The ranking of probable dangers

• Estimating possible effects

• Prioritizing the greatest dangers

• Retaliating by the threats

Aspects of those capabilities are:

• Use security orchestration and automation to build a solid security foundation based on best practices.

• Use a security incident response platform to create repeatable and scalable workflows for coordinated security responses.

• Threat intelligence is used to understand dangers in advance, to expedite prioritizing, and to certify that an incident has been resolved following a security threat.

What Is SIEM?

Security Information and Event Management are referred to as SIEM. It is a collection of services and technologies that aid in the collection and analysis of security data, the development of policies, and the design of alerts by a security team or Security Operations Centre (SOC). Data collection, consolidation, and correlation, as well as notifications anytime a single event or a collection of events, triggers a SIEM rule, are all used by a SIEM system to manage security information and events. Additionally, organizations create dashboards, alerts, reports, and regulations that align with their security concerns.

SIEM tools enable IT teams to:

• Utilize event log management to combine data from many sources

• Obtain instantaneous organization-wide visibility

• To efficiently add useful knowledge to data, correlate security events gathered from logs using if-then rules

• Utilize managed dashboards to use automatic event notifications

SIEM combines the management of security events and security information. System administrators are alerted, and real-time monitoring is used to achieve this.

How is SOAR different from SIEM?

Including security incidents and events, security-related data is gathered, examined, and saved by a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system. This data may include information from firewalls and network devices and patterns that might point to cyberattacks. To assess the integrity of the data gathered and prioritize the most critical data, SIEM technologies often require some calibration and management, which can be time-consuming. Since SOAR programs are frequently automated, determining whether security events are real occurrences that need inquiry or false positives that do not require a high level of skilled human monitoring. Investigating and mitigating can be done considerably more effectively and efficiently with time.

Using SIEM and SOAR for improved Security Operations

The perfect SIEM and SOAR configuration for security success. A larger firm may receive up to millions of warnings daily, which a SIEM will gather and analyze. Much depends on the volume and type of data acquired surrounding occurrences. SOAR can be used with a SIEM to handle incident response considerably more quickly by doing away with the time-consuming and difficult human prioritization and response processes for incidents.

Benefits of SOAR

As organizations battle with ever-increasing volumes of information about security and network activities, they should all take security procedures extremely seriously. SOAR is a tested solution for all enterprises. Multiple teams must use security systems, and SOAR can maintain everything consolidated, effective, and quick.

• SOAR Helps Build Workflows & Streamline Operations

With plugins for the most popular use cases and technologies, which offer pre-built workflows, orchestration layers are more successful. Then, your technology stack may be integrated and collaborative, automating IT procedures and security routines. Although one will probably need to add more orchestrations and modify certain workflows, numerous templates and building blocks are available and can speed up the process.

• SOAR Helps increase Flexibility, Extensibility, and Collaboration

With SOAR solutions, you can easily create new workflows or modify the templated use case workflows to fit the procedures. Additionally, there are chances for the cross-organizational, team, and enterprise cooperation, which may increase the demand for customizing and developing existing and new workflows.

• Respond more quickly and accurately

Automation that is based on both pre-planned and bespoke criteria is used by SOAR solutions to collect information continuously and prioritize events. With security personnel able to concentrate on the risks that matter due to this always vigilant strategy, incident evaluation and prioritization are quicker and more accurate.

• Improve Analyst Job Satisfaction

Repeated chores and routine data checks can become tiresome; these menial tasks might be automated to boost productivity and team morale. Employees can then devote more time to orchestrating and innovating while ignoring all except the most serious dangers.

• Improve Time Management and Productivity

Automated responses to threats utilizing SOAR can free up time, giving employees more time to concentrate on important activities rather than sorting through warnings to determine which ones need to be addressed.

• Effectively Manage Incidents

The accuracy of replies can be improved while response times to threats and vulnerabilities can be sped up with SOAR technology. This automated and data-driven procedure greatly decreases the possibility of human mistakes, including failure to collect important data, incorrect interpretation of findings, and false positives.

• Automate Repeated and Error-Prone Tasks

Security may become more autonomous and less manual with SOAR solutions, which helps avoid repetitive chores like frequently reviewing alarms and continuously obtaining data. The likelihood of human error can grow with repeated activities and continuous human engagement. Automated systems can considerably reduce errors, especially if boring chores are no longer necessary.

• Simplify Collaboration across Operational Teams

Effective incident response frequently requires several procedures and teams, and SOAR can reduce processes to build centralized and accessible spaces for teams to work.

The Value of Having and Using SOAR

Companies and organizations benefit from SOAR because it lowers the risk of legal liability and total business interruption and decreases the effects of security incidents of all kinds while increasing the return on existing security investments. The following are some ways that SOAR enables businesses to confront and overcome their security challenges:

• Unify the company’s current security systems and consolidate data collecting to get complete visibility, considerably enhancing the security posture, operational effectiveness, and business productivity.

• Increase analyst productivity by automating repetitive manual operations and taking full control of the security incident lifecycle. This will free up analysts’ time to enhance security rather than carry out manual duties.

• To prioritize, standardize, and scale response processes in a consistent, open, and documented manner, define incident analysis and response protocols and use security playbooks.

• Increase the speed of incident response by reducing the number of alerts and reducing alert fatigue by identifying and categorizing security alerts promptly and properly.

• Enhance proactive and reactive management of potential vulnerabilities by streamlining processes and activities.

• It supports real-time cooperation and unstructured investigations by assigning each security issue to the most qualified analyst and giving features that facilitate simple communication and tracking between teams and team members.

SOAR Challenges

In addition to not being a stand-alone system, SOAR is not a magic solution. Given that they depend on the input of other security systems to effectively detect threats, SOAR platforms should be a part of a defense-in-depth security strategy.

SOAR is a complementing solution, not a replacement for existing security technologies. Additionally, SOAR platforms do not take the role of human analysts but complement their abilities and work processes to improve incident recognition and response.

Other possible SOAR downsides include the following:

• Failing to correct a larger security plan

• Mixed-up expectations

• The difficulty of deployment and management

• Lacking or having few metrics

Conclusion

Security Orchestration Automation and Response solutions are becoming increasingly popular among organizations seeking faster response times when dealing with cyber threats or security incidents. SOAR enables organizations to respond quickly while still ensuring that critical decisions are made by knowledgeable personnel by combining automation tools with manual processes.

Check out more blogs on Cybersecurity:

Skills to get into Cybersecurity: https://ipspecialist.net/skills-to-get-into-cybersecurity/

Future of Cybersecurity in a Metaverse Era: https://ipspecialist.net/future-of-cybersecurity-in-a-metaverse-era/

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Cybersecurity: https://ipspecialist.net/artificial-intelligence-ai-in-cybersecurity/