What Is Security Automation and How Can You Implement It?
Hackers are targeting businesses more than ever before. All responsible businesses are now implementing strong cybersecurity policies because if they don’t, their private information will be stolen.
One problem that many businesses face, however, is that they have limited staff available to watch their network and protect against threats. This can allow hackers to exploit the opportunity. One potential solution is to automate security processes wherever possible.
So what is security automation and should your business be using it?
What Is Security Automation?
Security automation is the process of using software to perform security tasks. It involves looking at all the tasks being performed by a security team and automating those which are repetitive and performed the most often. It reduces the amount of work required by making some actions more efficient and making others automatic.
The software can also react to security incidents faster and can therefore prevent intruders from accessing private information.
Advantages of Security Automation
Security automation increases productivity and can make a business more secure. Here are the primary advantages.
Automation Increases Productivity
Automating repetitive tasksmakes security personnel more productive. This is particularly important when you consider that many security staff are overworked. By automating repetitive tasks, personnel can be free to work on higher-priority tasks.
Automation Provides Improved Incident Response
Automatic tools can identify security incidents on a network faster than a human can. It canidentify network intruders through Intrusion Detection Systemsand malicious files, handle some incidents, and prioritize others for further investigation. This significantly reduces the potential damage caused by such incidents.
Malicious files can be quarantined before they infect the entire system and intruders can be kicked off a network before they access any important information. Depending on the software being used, this can often be achieved without human input.
Automation Makes Processes More Standardized
Automating security processes requires that those processes are documented properly and standardized across an organization. This creates a more streamlined approach to security which increases efficiency and reduces training requirements.
Security Automation vs. Security Orchestration
Security automation and orchestration are similar but they are not the same thing. Security automation is the process of using software to perform security tasks. Security orchestration is the process of integrating security software and processes. Security orchestration also includes automation but is able to achieve more.
While security automation alone can achieve a single task using a single piece of software, orchestration is able to achieve multiple tasks by integrating multiple pieces of software.
Security Automation Tools
There are many software products available that are designed to automate security processes. Here are a few products worth implementing.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Robotic process automation consists of a robot that can simulate mouse and keyboard commands to perform basic security tasks. RPA can perform repetitive activities such as collecting information from security software and blocking IPs.
Security Orchestration, Alert, and Response (SOAR)
SOAR platforms are designed to respond to security incidents without human assistance. They consist of multiple tools working together and are able to collect information about threats and then react to them independently.
Security Monitoring and Alerting Tools (SMAAT)
SMAAT monitors a business’s network andprovides alerts whenever there is a security incident. The purpose of SMAAT is to automate network monitoring and to ensure that security staff can react to incidents faster.
Security Configuration Management Tools (SCMT)
SCMT looks at how your systems are configured. Once you define how all systems should be configured, it then monitors all systems to ensure that they are configured correctly. SCMT can also change configurations if a system has been configured incorrectly.
Penetration Testing Tools
Penetration testing is the act of attempting to access a network without authorization. It is performed to find weaknesses that can then be fixed. Penetration testing tools automate this process, allowing businesses to test their entire network quickly.
How to Implement Security Automation
Security automation can increase productivity and security. Here’s how to implement it.
Identify Tasks to Automate
Depending on the size of your security strategy, there are likely to be many activities that can be automated. Businesses should look at both the most important activities and the activities which take up the most time. Automation that can prevent attacks should be prioritized. Businesses should then look at other areas where productivity can be increased.
Use Standardized Processes
Automation is easiest to implement when all security incidents are handled in a standardized and documented way. Playbooks should be created that illustrate how security incidents are handled manually. Opportunities for automation can then be found by looking at all the tasks within those playbooks.
Combine With Human Input
The purpose of security automation is not to replace humans but to make them more efficient. Most automated tasks should therefore be combined with human input. It is particularly important that serious threats are flagged and escalated to manual input where necessary. Implementing automation, therefore, requires a large amount of employee training.
Add Automation Slowly
Automation should be added to a business slowly. Because employees need to be trained, individual tasks should be automated one at a time. The effectiveness of automation should also be regularly evaluated. If automation is added without sufficient human understanding, security issues can inadvertently be introduced.
Provide Alternative Work
The purpose of automation is to make security teams more efficient. In order to maximize the benefit from this, businesses should assign alternative work to employees. Security personnel should be assigned tasks that aim to strengthen a business’s overall security rather than performing repetitive tasks.
Security Automation Increases Productivity and Protects Against Intrusions
Security automation, when done correctly, has the potential to increase efficiency and boost the effectiveness of security staff. It has the potential to detect and react to intrusions faster and can therefore prevent the theft of private information and other consequences of successful cyberattacks.
In order to implement security automation, businesses should look at both important tasks and those which are the most repetitive. Tasks should then be automated one by one while evaluating for effectiveness.
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