Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR)
Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) is a cybersecurity platform that helps organizations manage and respond to security threats more efficiently. Through SOAR, they can orchestrate repetitive tasks, integrate disparate security tools, achieve a unified view of security operations and streamline incident response.
In today’s complex threat landscape, where cyberattacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and frequent, SOAR brings much needed automation and better coordination, so security teams can respond much faster, reduce human error and ensure that all threats are consistently dealt with. This improves the overall security posture of the organization.
The four SOAR cybersecurity tools
- Security orchestration
As the name indicates, this component acts as the orchestrator of the SOAR platform. It ensures that all the security solutions and processes are well-integrated, sharing information and enabling a unified response to threats. The goal of security orchestration is to bring together disparate tools within security operations and make the entire system more efficient.
For example, this component may use APIs and custom connectors to integrate various services, such as a firewall, network monitoring tools, antiviruses and endpoint security solutions. - Security automation
Security automation focuses on automating repetitive tasks that would otherwise require manual intervention. Examples can include security monitoring, event data analysis, incident detection, phishing avoidance, malware protection, vulnerability analysis, data collection and routine responses.
By automating these tasks, teams working in the Security Operations Center (SOC) can save a significant amount of time and reduce the risk of errors associated with manual input. For example, manually analyzing thousands of security events or logs is time-consuming and prone to human oversight. Conversely, automated event analysis can quickly and accurately detect all malicious traffic, security threats and vulnerabilities. - Security response
The security response component provides a framework for managing security incidents, like breaches and intrusions. A typical SOAR platform comes with playbooks or predefined response procedures to guide security teams through the intrusion detection and response processes.
For example, a SOAR tool may have playbooks to deal with incidents like ransomware attacks, data breaches, malware infections and DDoS attacks. - Threat intelligence
Threat intelligence deals with the collection, analysis and application of data about current and potential security threats and vulnerabilities. This information is used to anticipate, identify and mitigate threats more effectively.
For example, the threat intelligence component may pick up that a new ransomware variant is targeting healthcare organizations, and prompt internal security experts to update their defenses against it.
The difference between security orchestration and security automation
Security orchestration and security automation are both fundamental to SOAR, and they serve similar purposes, pushing the response away from manual work and towards more automation, where humans only guide the process.
Security orchestration focuses on integrating different security tools to create a cohesive and goal-driven security ecosystem. It often requires human oversight to design workflows and make decisions on how different tools should interact. Orchestration, to stretch the metaphor, turns these tools into a proper band playing in unison, with the human acting as a conductor.
On the other hand, the goal of security automation is to automate time-consuming tasks to improve productivity. Security automation tools can automate tasks like vulnerability management and threat detection based on set rules or triggers, allowing security teams to focus on more demanding activities.
In essence, orchestration is about connectivity and coordination, whereas automation is about efficiency and manual workload reduction.
How SOAR works in practice
To understand how SOAR works, let’s look at a real-world example of how it would handle an attack from an experienced ransomware attacker group.
- The endpoint security tool detects a suspicious file on an
employee’s computer. The file exhibits behavior typical of ransomware,
such as attempting to encrypt files. The security tool generates an alert.
- The alert is picked up by the SOAR platform and it immediately starts
coordinating a response. It collects information from different security
tools, including network monitoring systems, firewalls and threat
intelligence feeds, to assess the scope and severity of the threat.
- Based on predefined rules, the platform acts to contain the threat. It
isolates the affected computer from the network to prevent the ransomware
from spreading to other systems. Simultaneously, it continues to scan the
network to identify any other devices that may also get compromised by the
hackers.
- The platform then uses integrated threat intelligence to analyze the
ransomware. It compares the ransomware's signature, behavior and associated
IP addresses with known threat databases to identify the specific ransomware
group responsible for the attack. This intelligence is made available to
everyone in the SOC.
- At this point, the platform may take additional protective actions. For
example, it may alert all employees to avoid clicking on suspicious emails,
or deploy patches or updates to close vulnerabilities that the ransomware may
exploit.
- Once the threat is mitigated, the SOAR platform compiles a detailed forensic report of the incident, documenting every action taken for containment and remediation. This report is used to refine automated processes, update information security controls and policies and improve the organization’s overall readiness for future incidents.
SIEM vs SOAR
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and SOAR are sometimes confused with one another. Although they are both important in the enterprise security world, each of them has different use cases and capabilities. Let’s look at a comparison table for easier understanding of their differences.
Feature
SIEM
SOAR
Primary purpose
Collects, analyzes and monitors security events.
Automates and coordinates threat management and response.
Data handling
Aggregates data from various sources for analysis.
Integrates data from multiple tools to drive automated actions.
Response capabilities
Primarily focused on alerting and reporting.
Automates incident response and streamlines workflows.
Use case
Best for detecting and analyzing potential threats.
Best for managing and responding to security incidents efficiently.
Scope
Limited, often a standalone tool.
A collection of tools responsible for managing the entire security posture.
The benefits of SOAR
Although we have already touched upon the many benefits of SOAR, let’s recap them here for clarity:
- Improved incident response: As many aspects of the response process are automated, IT security teams are able to address threats more quickly, reducing potential damage.
- Consistent response, every time: SOAR ensures that responses to incidents are consistent and follow predefined procedures. This minimizes the risk of human error.
- Better security posture: A centralized platform for managing security operations breaks down silos, increases visibility and enables organizations to reduce their attack surface.
- Scalability: SOAR tools are designed to handle large volumes of security alerts and incidents, making them viable for organizations of all sizes.
- Reduced alert fatigue: By handling low-level alerts on its own, SOAR helps reduce the burden on security teams. This is crucial for preventing alert fatigue and improving focus on real threats in today’s world.
- Compliance: SOAR can help organizations meet regulatory requirements by automating compliance-related tasks and providing audit trails.