Gartner predicts that by the end of 2020, 15% of organizations with a security team of more than five security professionals will leverage SOAR. This is primarily because Security Orchestration Automation and Response has transformed cybersecurity case management at enterprises by addressing alert overload and bringing together disparate security systems seamlessly.
By automating manual processes, SOAR cybersecurity has greatly approached and mitigated the issue of staff shortage. According to the latest Cybersecurity Workforce Study, nearly two-thirds of the organizations reported having gaps in their cybersecurity infrastructure due to the shortage of skilled security analysts. SOAR tools have successfully diluted these concerns of the SOC by automating repetitive processes and allowing trained professionals to concentrate their efforts toward tasks that need cognitive thinking capabilities.
Are you failing to get the right SOAR solution for your business? Here are the features you should look out for - Questions to Ask Before Investing in a SOAR Platform
Having discussed all the benefits of incorporating SOAR security, here is how security professionals can avoid missteps during its implementation to strengthen the security landscape further.
Common SOAR Platform Implementation Pitfalls to Look For:
As the security landscape is evolving, the SOAR IT security capabilities are getting powerful. But investing in the right solution is also important. Enterprises often make their purchasing decisions based on the degree of capabilities of the SOAR tools. The right approach is to ensure that the solution is at par with the in-house skills of the organizations.
As discussed, there is already a huge gap in the need for trained professionals and their availability. During the process of integrating SOAR security tools with other existing systems, some solutions need heavy coding aptitudes with the analysts having to be proficient in several coding languages. Similar issues arise during building playbooks too. This can hence, do more bad than good.
So, when enterprises invest in solutions that have capabilities in line with the analysts in-house, the implementation will be smooth and swift with no delays.
With the help of the automation capabilities of SOAR tools, security analysts can focus better on the tasks that need their attention. But if the SOC does not have a defined and stable incident response plan in place, there is no way to prioritize which processes and workflows to automate first.
Before the implementation of SOAR security tools, organizations should have documented standard operating procedures in place to make the process seamless and ease its integration process with existing tools and systems.
SOAR IT security helps in the automation of manual processes, yes, but that does not necessarily mean that enterprises should automate everything all at once. The right way to go about the process is by automating a short and simple workflow that is repetitive and manual. Do not leap directly into letting SOAR cybersecurity handle complex security workflows.
When enterprises attempt to automate every process simultaneously in the beginning, then it becomes difficult to weed out the processes that haven’t been tested before, leading to process failures. By automating one workflow at a time, security analysts can better judge and understand the effects and nuances of automation, hence leading to a stronger security system in the long-run.
Quoting Bill Gates - “Automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency”
According to a study by SANS, 25% of enterprises review and update their incident response plan only after a major security breach has occurred. This can never be the right step towards ensuring an impenetrable security system.
When implementing SOAR cybersecurity solutions, enterprises should be aware that the case management process in place needs to be tested periodically to ensure their efficiency and whether or not their capabilities are at par with the evolving cyber threat landscape. Analysts need to run tests and simulation exercises after the implementation of the SOAR cybersecurity platform to evaluate the relevance of the processes from time to time.
Here is everything you need to know about keeping your Case Management plans in place - How to Test Your Incident Response Plan
Every security operations team of every enterprise is unique in its operations, people and processes. This means that security solutions cannot work out-of-the-box, 100 percent. When enterprises spend in such SOAR tools, they are not only investing in solutions that they may not need or are not compatible with their existing processes. Again, the SOAR platform may not have features that the SOC requires. Hence, going for fully out-of-the-box software also has downsides.
SOAR cybersecurity implementation process at organizations should be designed in a way that can be integrated easily with existing processes, technologies and cybersecurity tools. The right approach is to get all analysts on board and draw out a map of which capabilities and integrations are required in the SOAR platform to enhance the security landscape.
In Conclusion
With a large array of security solutions in the market, choosing the right solution that matches the unique needs of the business is a tough job. Once the screening process is over and the right solution has been purchased, ensuring the right practices of implementation is equally crucial. By avoiding the above-mentioned pitfalls, enterprises can boost the efficiency of their SOAR platform and make sure that they have the right processes and technologies in place.
With Anlyz, organizations do not have to worry about the capabilities of SOAR tools. Here is a detailed look at Sporact™ - The Right Case Management Tool for CISOs - Anlyz’s intelligent offering to tackle and manage all the incident response processes at enterprises.
