Doesn’t sound very enjoyable, does it? It feels like trying to find something incredibly small and time-consuming. Here is where automation makes its entrance. Out of nowhere, a cutting-edge system takes care of all the hard work for you, swiftly sifting through alerts and highlighting only the genuine threats. However, automation encompasses many possibilities beyond what initially comes to mind. To effectively combat modern cyberattacks, we must abandon outdated defence techniques that we have relied on in the past. This is where automation transforms the game beyond being a mere tool.
What is Security Umbrella Automation?
For those in the cybersecurity field, the mention of “automation” immediately brings to mind SOAR, a platform that focuses on Security Orchestration Automation and Response. And that is perfectly acceptable. However, there’s more to it. Limiting the potential of automation to the business’s definition of SOAR can restrict its capabilities. This often involves automating the triaging of alerts and incident identification. Automation within the security realm involves incorporating automated processes and tools into an organization’s broader cybersecurity strategy. This involves effectively identifying repetitive manual tasks and eliminating the need for human involvement in performing them. The primary goals would involve enabling individuals to concentrate on more crucial responsibilities and minimizing the potential for mistakes. Selecting which use cases are suitable for automation is a challenging endeavour in itself. Many use cases are eligible for automation.
How to Decide: To Automate or Not to Automate
The answer is not always straightforward when it comes to selecting whether or not to automate something or integrate automation into cybersecurity processes.
Several considerations need to be taken into account. However, it’s important for beginners to begin with something straightforward, the easy wins, that offer a significant return on investment. When discussing ROI in cybersecurity automation, typically, one of these four factors is considered:
- Efficiency: Maximizing efficiency by simplifying procedures, minimizing the need for manual tasks, and facilitating prompt handling of incidents.
- Financial Benefits: Mitigating the consequences of security breaches and lightening the workload on staff will achieve cost savings, enabling the business to allocate its resources better.
- Reducing Risk: By automating routine security tasks and responses, the chances of security incidents occurring and their impact can be minimized. As a result, the potential for data breaches, damage to reputation, and compliance violations is reduced.
- Scalability and Flexibility: Automated processes can manage increasing workloads without correspondingly raising expenses.
Our constantly evolving guide within our cybersecurity team at Telefónica Germany requires us to carefully consider the factors mentioned when making decisions about automation. However, there are always additional considerations to consider, such as assessing the difficulty level and the amount of work required. For example, a manual review may be enough if the workload is irregular. In addition to evaluating resource availability, such as time, budget, and skilled staff, this assessment plays a significant role in the decision-making process. Assessing one’s risk tolerance is an essential factor to consider. Automating certain security tasks can pose higher risks, particularly when there is a chance of inaccurate results.
Exploring New Horizons in Automation
The best approach to automation in security is to approach it with creative ideas. Various use cases can be explored, but a helpful tip is to focus on areas involving spreadsheets. For example, automating the process of connecting CSV files, seamlessly populating daily reports with data points from various systems, and effortlessly generating monthly reports from the dashboards. There are countless possibilities, and as Automation Engineers, we are constantly pushing ourselves to think outside the box.
A Sneak Peek into What Lies Ahead
There are many exciting possibilities for automation in cybersecurity. By integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, we can anticipate significant advancements in automating incident response, detecting threats, and streamlining operations. Nevertheless, as we delve into and embrace the future, it is crucial to stay watchful and guarantee the responsible utilization of automation in cybersecurity. Moving forward requires a commitment to being accountable, transparent, and fostering continuous communication.
