SOAR integrates security tools and processes to automate and streamline threat detection and response, enabling organizations to enhance their cybersecurity posture by reducing manual intervention and improving incident response times.
SOAR platforms allow organizations to gather threat-related data, automate responses to security incidents, and manage security workflows comprehensively. These solutions help optimize the efficiency of security operations centers (SOCs) by automating repetitive tasks and orchestrating complex incident response activities. Leveraging advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities, SOAR platforms provide actionable intelligence, facilitating quicker and more informed decisions.
What are the critical features to look for?In finance, SOAR solutions automate compliance-related tasks, ensuring adherence to regulations. Healthcare organizations utilize SOAR platforms to protect sensitive patient data by automating and enforcing security policies. In the retail sector, SOAR helps manage and respond to cyber threats targeting payment systems and customer information.
SOAR solutions help organizations manage the growing number of cyber threats effectively. They automate routine tasks, allowing security teams to focus on complex issues, improving overall security posture.
Here is an example of a playbook for the event of a malware threat:
This process is standardized, so analysts know what to do at every step of the incident response.
One of the biggest challenges for companies today is the tech sprawl of security tools. As the number of threats keeps rising, companies add more security tools to their stack to keep all potential threats covered.
The problem is that in most cases, these security tools don’t talk to each other. A report of NASDAQ Information Services found the typical SOC (security operations center) uses on average 15 different security products. Because most of these products don’t offer automation, an increasing number of security teams become overwhelmed by manual tasks and having to deal with managing a sprawled tech stack. To add to this challenge, security teams usually have limited to no visibility across the entire tool stack, data, and environments.
Another challenge is the massive volume of threat intelligence (TI) data and alerts produced by security tools. This requires security teams to manually prioritize, investigate, and respond to each one. In addition, the talent shortage in the cybersecurity industry makes it difficult for companies to find enough security staff to deal with the increasing number of manual jobs.
Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response solutions (SOAR) help companies overcome these challenges. SOAR helps improve security operations by:
Organizations use these tools to handle the overflow of security-related information and events generated by the typical organization today. Security Operations Center (SOC) staff often manually manage the identification and response to cyber threats. However, as data streams and threat alerts continue to grow, it becomes nearly impossible to manually handle all this data. Here is where Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) come in.
SIEM solutions collect and aggregate log and event data from applications, security devices, and systems into a centralized platform, then analyze this data to identify indicators of compromise (IoC) that may point to a cyber attack. These solutions use machine learning to improve their detection capabilities.
A SIEM platform collects, processes, correlates, aggregates, and monitors for anomalies across data logs, then notifies users through alerts when it detects suspicious behavior.
SIEM focuses on finding suspicious behavior and triggering alerts, leaving the actual response and remediation to humans. Thus, while it improves threat detection, it actually creates more work for SOC teams. In addition, it can contribute to alert fatigue if there is a large number of false positives. That being said, SIEM excels at ingesting and parsing large datasets of internal logs, thus complementing SOAR’s capabilities.
SOAR solutions go several steps further than SIEM by increasing the pre-processing of detected threats before the system alerts a cybersecurity officer. SOAR can ingest data from external sources, like threat intelligence sources. In addition, as the main function of SOAR technologies is the ability to coordinate and leverage different security products, the system gives organizations the possibility of streamlining existing tools, using them in new ways.
So, which should you choose? You should use both. SIEM tools are better for processing large volumes of data, while SOAR can leverage SIEM’s capabilities, orchestrating SIEM together with other security tools.
Security operations teams need to coordinate the results and filter the noise of alerts resulting from disparate systems. This increasing volume of manual processes leads to errors and missing alerts. Security Orchestration and Automation Response (SOAR) solutions improve the security posture and minimize the incident response time. Here are some benefits of implementing a SOAR platform:
1. Reduces response time
By using automation capabilities, security orchestration aggregates related alerts from different systems into a single incident. The system then can respond to low-level alerts without human intervention, elevating complex or high-severity alerts to the SOC (security operations center). This enables a faster response time.
2. Standardizes communication for incident response
SOC teams usually need to reach outside the SOC when responding to incidents, including external stakeholders like legal teams, law enforcement, human resources, and public relations. Having a standard communications process through the SOAR playbook ensures no stakeholder misses critical information during an incident response.
3. Leverages threat intelligence
In many cases, SOC teams fail to pay enough attention to threat intelligence data due to information overload. SOAR platforms ingest, process, and leverage threat intelligence information, correlating it with events in real-time. This reduces the manual workload of SOC teams while providing actionable information.
4. Minimizes manual operations
The “automation” part of SOAR saves SOC analysts from conducting repetitive tasks manually, instead integrating them into the general incident response. Automation can handle low-level alerts and incidents through automated playbooks, thus freeing SOC teams from manual event handling.
5. Easy integration
A key benefit of SOAR platforms is the ability to aggregate and correlate alerts from disparate tools and sources. A SOAR platform integrates with products across the spectrum of security tools, including:
There are various SOAR solutions available with an array of features. The four basic functions of a SOAR platform include:
1. Flexible integrations
The system should support common methods of data ingestion, such as Syslog, APIs, online forms, and database connections. A SOAR platform should support creating unidirectional integrations - such as ingesting data from a security product to the platform - and bidirectional integrations with new security products. The integration should be easy to implement and use.
2. Easy to create and use process workflows
One of the basic features of SOAR platforms is the drag-and-drop capability to create playbooks. Additionally, the solutions should support different methods for creating and controlling workflows, allowing for the analyst to make the decision before the workflow continues. It is important that analysts can create workflows without a high level of scripting or programming.
3. Incident management
In addition to basic case management functionality, many SOAR solutions offer advanced features such as evidence and chain of custody management, detailed task tracking, asset management, and objective tracking.
4. Threat intelligence
SOAR solutions gather and correlate threat intelligence information, providing context to help with incident management. A SOAR platform can access all incident information from related sources, thus providing actionable threat intelligence.
Implementing SOAR in your organization can dramatically boost incident response efficiency by automating numerous repetitive tasks that typically consume valuable time. It allows your security team to prioritize critical threats and respond swiftly. By streamlining workflows and integrating with multiple security tools, SOAR enhances collaboration and speeds up threat mitigation processes. This leads to reduced incident resolution times and a more agile response strategy.
What are the key components of a SOAR platform?A comprehensive SOAR platform typically includes key components such as incident management, automation, and orchestration. Incident management helps you effectively track and manage security incidents. Automation is crucial for executing repetitive tasks without manual intervention. Orchestration integrates various security and IT tools to work in harmony, enabling coordinated responses across your infrastructure. These components together empower your security operations center to function seamlessly and efficiently.
How does SOAR enhance threat intelligence sharing?SOAR platforms enhance threat intelligence sharing by automating the aggregation and dissemination of threat data across your security infrastructure. By seamlessly integrating with threat intelligence feeds, SOAR helps you collate valuable threat information from various sources. This enriched data is then automatically shared among team members and systems, fostering a proactive security posture. The ability to quickly access and share threat intelligence enhances your organization’s ability to anticipate and respond to emerging threats effectively.
Can SOAR solutions be integrated with existing IT infrastructure?Yes, SOAR solutions can be seamlessly integrated with your existing IT infrastructure. They are designed with flexible APIs that allow them to connect with various security tools and IT systems you already have in place. This integration enables you to create a unified ecosystem where data can be smoothly shared between systems, enhancing overall security management. The customizable nature of SOAR platforms ensures they can adapt to your specific needs, providing a tailored solution for your organization's security strategy.
What role does machine learning play in SOAR?Machine learning plays a significant role in enhancing SOAR capabilities by continuously analyzing data patterns and improving threat detection accuracy. Through machine learning algorithms, SOAR platforms can identify anomalies and predict potential security incidents, allowing for proactive measures. By learning from past incidents, these platforms can refine automated responses, minimizing false positives and focusing on genuine threats. Machine learning enables SOAR systems to evolve and adapt, making them more effective over time.
