How Security Automation Can Secure Your Organization

The cybersecurity sphere is a lot different than what it was a decade or so ago. Two driving factors have been essential to the widespread changes we see today: firstly, cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated, and secondly, corporate IT infrastructures are growing more complex.

Artificial intelligence is proving to be the key weapon for both sides in this battle of the ‘cyberverse’.  75% of security professionals have seen an uptick in attacks over the past year, with 85% attributing the rise to bad actors increasingly using generative AI in their attacks. The assault has now become non-stop – data suggests there is a new cyberattack every 39 seconds.

This has led to many in-house security analysts being overwhelmed and overworked by the sheer volume of incidents. The problem is compounded when you realize all their hard work is sometimes still not enough – more than a third of security professionals ignore threat alerts when the queue is full. This constant onslaught is leading to negligence, and, in worst cases, human errors directly leading to a breach. 

Human Expertise + Automation: The Dream Team for Cybersecurity

In today’s threat landscape, rapid identification and remediation of cyber threats is critical to minimizing the impact of an attack. The solution seems t0 be simple – fight AI with AI. The same way malicious actors use automation for cyberattacks, security teams should use automation for cyber resilience. However, there seems to be a slight reticence in doing so, illustrated by the fact that 46% of security experts believe adopting AI will leave companies more vulnerable than before.

Some of this aversion may be due to the perceived integration risks of adopting a new technology, but, when handled correctly by expert security professionals, automation could end up being a revolutionary tool in your cybersecurity arsenal. This blog speaks about all the benefits security automation provides to an organization, followed by best practices should you decide to integrate it in yours.

But before we get into all that, let’s start by defining what security automation is. It is the process of automatically detecting, investigating and remediating cyber threats with or without human intervention, using a programmatic solution designed for the purpose. Security automation performs assigned activities automatically and instantaneously, faster than even the most experienced human analyst.

If that sounds all scary and end of days (“AI is taking all our jobs!”), it’s not supposed to. Automated is not the same as autonomous – cyber activities can be managed via AI & ML, but human security professionals are required to act on the data & alerts generated. In fact, the best security operations combining tech and humans lets the former do the more manual tasks, freeing up the latter to get involved in company growth and more proactive, overarching processes that improve security posture.

What Can (and Can’t) Security Automation Do for You?

To clarify this distinction at the outset, let’s look at what automation can and can’t do with regards to tasks in your organization: (As a rule of thumb, if it’s repeatable, you can automate it.)

In recent times, partly due to a rise in third parties handling organizational data, a zero trust security framework is becoming increasingly popular. This is a security framework requiring all users to be authenticated, authorized and continuously validated before being granted access to only the applications and data relevant to their tasks. This type of granular security definitely has a lot of benefits but also a significant amount of workloads. Such extensive requirements make it ideal to use AI, ML for security automation.

In fact, implementing automated security the correct way in your organization has a multitude of benefits:

• When you have well-defined workflows, automation can lead to improved threat detection.
• Once detected, effective containment & mitigation of threats can be achieved using watertight security playbooks.
• Since automated tools can comb data quicker, it leads to faster response times.
• By eradicating human error, automation can create consistent enforcement of your security policies.
• It frees up time for your security teams to work on higher level security matters, prompting workforce optimization.
• By managing reporting & compliance-related activities, it can help decrease regulatory complexity & risk.
• Finally, and most relevant to you, it leads to reduced costs by eliminating all the labor and infrastructure costs associated with running all these processes manually.

The 5 Steps to Implementing Security Automation in Your Organization

So, how do you implement automated security correctly in your organization? We break it down in 5 simple steps:

Step 1: Figure out what you need first

The security automation tools and processes you adopt are dependent not only on your organization’s cyber risk profile but also the industry it operates in. For example, retailers are nowadays dealing with unprecedented levels of phishing & ransomware. Automation can quickly sort out all the repetitive attacks & false positives associated with this.

It is also highly beneficial to consult with your security team about the challenges they face:

• Are they dealing with alert fatigue? How many alerts do they receive daily, and how many do they respond to?
• Are their dwell times & response rates lower than expected?
• What tasks are well-defined & repeatable?

Step 2: Define your use cases

After taking an in-depth look at your security posture, it is time to determine issues that need to be addressed the most. Set clear priorities by defining use cases and identifying opportunities. It is important here to note that automation shouldn’t be done all at once. Start where it will bring most value, evaluate its effectiveness and make the necessary adjustments before further incorporation.

Step 3: Choose a provider after the requisite due diligence

The provider you go with is essential – it can make your automation process a total success or an abject failure. Here are some things to consider when going with an automation partner:

• How much coding is required on your part? Ideally, you want a solution that allows you to build playbooks with little to no coding involved.
• Make sure your vendor’s solutions fully support your existing tool stack.
• Go with preferably a cloud solution to eliminate all your maintenance costs.
• How customizable is the solution? Does it accommodate your long term needs?
• Is the deployment time quick, from configuration to integration to staff training?
• What support will you receive in case of issues? (24×7 customer support, web chats)

Step 4: Establish Playbooks & Upskill Staff

Security automation ROI calculation is heavily dependent on the effectiveness of these two factors. Make sure your workflows are solid before you begin automating them.

Once this is established, upskilling for security automation becomes essential. Everyone in your team should be aware of the exact line where automated response capabilities end and human responsibilities begin.

Step 5: Constant Evaluation

No new technology will have smooth sailing at the outset – there will be some teething issues that you will face. The key is to learn from these instances and use your learnings to make your programs more effective.

Popular Security Automation Tools to Consider

Finally, before we bid adieu, let’s look at some of the more popular automated tools companies are adopting these days:

• SIEM – Security Information & Event Management: This is designed to collect, aggregate and analyze security data from across an organization’s IT environment.
• SOAR – Security Orchestration, Automation & Response: Orchestration is different from simple automation in that it is designed to unite various automated processes and shut down potential threats automatically.
• XDR – Extended Detection & Response: This monitors & mitigates cyber security threats across multiple sources & layers of defense, and often has the first two mentioned tools as part of its arsenal.
• SOC-as-a-Service: This is outsourcing your entire Security Operations Centre workloads to an external party. We consider this to be the future of automated defenses. Read up all about it here.

We leave you with this: security automation is no longer nice to have in today’s complex environments. It’s a must-have. You can address threats faster, protect your customers better and safeguard your reputation & bottom line more effectively. And we could be the ideal partners to help you get started! Click here to start a conversation.