Taking Things to the Next Level with Security Automation
May 28, 2019
SIRP Recognized as the Highest Performer on G2 Grid for Incident Response Software
June 10, 2019How SOAR Platforms Empower
SOC and IR Teams
In recent posts we’ve looked at three of the most important topics for modern security teams:
- The main challenges faced by security teams in 2019
- How security teams can use orchestration to improve incident handling
- How automation (when used properly) can supercharge IR and SOC processes
In this post we’re going a stage further, and talking about how security teams can bring these essential functions together using a new technology: SOAR platforms.
What are SOAR Platforms?
SOAR — which stands for Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response — is a term first coined by Gartner to describe the intersection of three technology fields:
- Security orchestration and automation
- Security incident response platforms (SIRPs)
- Threat intelligence platforms (TIPs)
SOAR platforms are designed to help security teams respond to security incidents and alerts faster and more consistently. To do this, they combine a variety of functions, including:
- Data gathering
- Case management and workflow
- Incident enrichment
- Process design
- Process automation
- Analytics
Simply put, SOAR platforms are a single, centralized location for security teams to manage incidents and alerts. Crucially, SOAR platforms enable analysts to harness the functionality of all relevant security technologies without needing to switch back-and-forth between systems.
Remember: Security teams often use technologies from dozens of different providers, so this functionality alone can save thousands of hours during the course of a year.
3 Steps to Help Security Teams SOAR
One of the most important functions of SOAR platforms is to guide security teams through the process of orchestrating and automating IR and SOC functions. As we explained in a previous post, approaching these functions (particularly automation) in a haphazard way can easily lead to disaster.
As with all IT functions, the order of priority is always:
People → Process → Technology
In the context of incident response and security operations, that means:
Step 1: Distill the practices of your top performers into solid, repeatable process playbooks.
Step 2: Ensure all security technologies are integrated via a single, centralized solution.
Step 3: Use automation to reduce the burden of repetitive, manual processes.
Gartner have described the need for this approach in their “two doors to SOAR” model — One door (described above) lays the foundation for success, while the other (automation first) leads to ruin.
The Top 5 Benefits of SOAR Platforms for Security Teams
At this point it should be clear that SOAR has a lot to offer security teams. While there are dozens of potential benefits, in our experience these five have the most significant impact for SOC and IR functions:
- Better (and more consistent) security outcomes — Security teams can easily become reliant on individual heroics. SOAR platforms use playbooks to guide security personnel through the process of resolving common incidents, ensuring ideal results every time.
- Reduced time to detect and resolve security incidents — Through a combination of integration and automation, SOAR platforms drastically reduce the time needed to resolve security incidents.
- Minimized alert fatigue — False positives are a huge burden on security teams. SOAR platforms make use of threat intelligence to automatically discard time-wasting false positives, enabling security personnel to focus on only the most important incidents and alerts.
- Reduced potential for human error — Human error is a fact of life, and at times it can leave organizations vulnerable to data and security breaches. SOAR platforms limit the potential for human error by guiding security personnel through the incident resolution process, and automating repetitive, manual tasks.
- Improved documentation and reporting — While not the most exciting aspect of security, accurate and consistent documentation is essential to ensure consistently good outcomes. SOAR platforms make it easy for multiple team members to work on the same incident, and automate much of the documentation process.
As security leaders become wise to the benefits offered by SOAR platforms, uptake is rising dramatically. While just 1% of security teams were using SOAR platforms in 2018, Gartner predict that figure will rise to 15% by the end of 2020.
Introducing The Only SOAR Platform with In-Built Risk Management
SIRP is a SOAR platform that helps security teams work smarter, faster, and more consistently. It combines all of the key components of SOAR that security teams need to maximize the efficiency of their operations:
- Security orchestration and automation
- Incident management
- Vulnerability management
- Threat intelligence
Taking things a stage further, SIRP is also the only SOAR platform with in-built risk management — a fully customizable module that helps security teams map risks to individual assets (using any risk framework) and prioritize them across the organization.
Finally, SIRP supports integration with more than 100 security technologies, including the world’s leading firewall, EDR, vulnerability scanning, antivirus, SIEM, and threat intelligence technologies.
To find out more about how SIRP can empower your security function, book a FREE demo today.