SOAR For Dummies
While learning Cyber Security, one of the most challenging things for me was understanding and memorizing the seemingly endless list of similar terms and abbreviations. I even created a mini-word document for myself to keep track of them all. To this day, I sometimes still confuse and forget the meanings of certain abbreviations. I’m sure many others have experienced the same confusion. Another issue I encountered was that these terms, even within the IT community, were not fully understood or grasped by people. I experienced this issue during my recent university project presentation. When I realized that the audience still couldn’t remember the basic concepts after three presentations on the same topic, I knew I had to use a different way to explain them. This experience inspired me to write this article, and from now on, I want to explain basic Cyber Security terms and tools in a more user-friendly and engaging manner, to pique the interest of readers who are also learning about these concepts.
If you’re struggling to make sense of the jargon and abbreviations used in cybersecurity, you’re not alone. Basic explanations of cyber terms can be difficult to understand. That’s why I think using stories and analogies is a great way to explain complex concepts in a fun and easy-to-understand manner. In this article, I will provide you with simplified information about what SOAR is and its benefits.
What is SOAR and How Does It Work?
Imagine we are trapped in a zombie apocalypse, just like in a Hollywood movie where our base is the last hope for humanity and survivors are few, we need advanced technology to defend ourselves against the zombie horde. 🧟 That’s where SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) comes in. It’s intelligent software that controls our weapons, automates our systems, and responds to threats. However, it needs our help to define the types of threats to protect against. Once defined, SOAR will automatically activate turrets, landmines, and killer drones as needed to neutralize the threat. ⚠️🚀 When unexpected breaches occur, SOAR initiates incident response protocols. These protocols include sending an operations team to defeat zombies, a healthcare team to treat injured persons, and a contamination team to disinfect viruses. SOAR also keeps logs to improve our security policies for future attacks.. 📈🔒
Gartner defines SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) as technologies that allow organizations to gather information from various security systems, such as SIEM(security information and event management) alerts, and uses a combination of human and machine power to analyze and prioritize security incidents. By using SOAR tools, organizations can define their incident response procedures in a digital workflow format, helping to standardize and streamline their response activities.
Security experts use technologies like firewalls, intrusion detection systems, antivirus software, and vulnerability scanners to detect and respond to cyber threats, just like sensors in our story that detect and neutralize zombies. Experts can use automated responses such as blocking an IP address or disabling a user account, as well as manual responses like launching a forensic investigation or hiring a security analyst to investigate the threat, these process is very similar to the weapons that neutralize zombie threats. SOAR is the intelligent software that controls all of these “weapons” and “sensors”, automates our security operation, and responds to cyber attacks. It’s a powerful tool that companies should use every day to defend their systems with the power of orchestration, and automation. 💪🏼🤖
Also, it’s key to keep in mind that SOAR platforms are constantly getting better at analyzing and fighting threats, thanks to machine learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI helps use data from past attacks to create stronger defenses and responses for future threats. It also gives suggestions on how to fix vulnerabilities and improve security. Security experts have been effectively fighting cyber attacks for a long time, leveraging AI and machine learning. However, recent advancements in artificial intelligence may also give rise to new threats. Hackers are adapting to use AI to attack, as Finnish security expert Mikko Hypponen warned at the recent Agder Cyber Security Conference. We aren’t sure what will happen in the near future, but it might be a serious threat. Before the cyber winter arrives, companies should assess their security posture and enhance their security systems by harnessing the power of SOAR.
Elements Of SOAR
Let’s take a look at the key elements of SOAR in this simple diagram:
SOAR Elements:
- Threat Intelligence: Gathers and processes info to know and predict possible cyber threats, helping protect IT systems. This will be discussed later in the article.
- Orchestration: Combines different security tools, making them work together for better overall security.
- Response: Offers a central place to plan, manage, watch, and report on how incidents are handled, keeping things organized.
- Automation: Takes care of routine tasks automatically, making security work faster and with fewer mistakes, so people can focus on more important tasks.
Why Is SOAR Important
As my previous example; fighting a zombie invasion with only a handful of people at your base; this scenario is similar to how organizations today struggle against an increasing and complex number of cyberattacks while relying on limited human resources. If this battle were conducted manually, security teams would be unable to cope with the sheer volume of cyberattacks due to numerous alerts requiring examination and response. This ever-growing workload can become overwhelming for teams and can lead to mistakes due to human error.
SOAR is revolutionizing security operations by providing an efficient and effective approach to managing, analyzing, and responding to alerts and threats. This not only reduces the workload of security analysts but also prevents user-related errors. Additionally, by centralizing the management and monitoring of various security tools, SOAR offers a comprehensive view of the organization’s security landscape. Many platforms can easily integrate with SOAR, enabling a single point of response to cyberattacks.
By using SOAR, organizations can enhance their cybersecurity, simplify their security operations, and improve their protection against ever-changing threats.
What Should We Consider When Using SOAR?
Advantages:
- Running a SOAR system with many rules and playbooks means you don’t need new detection rules for every system, saving time and resources.
- Automation handles incidents effectively, allowing security analysts to focus on important tasks.
- Adaptable automation works across platforms, reducing effort and resources.
- SOAR streamlines automation, lowering error risk and increasing efficiency.
- Faster, more effective incident response with automated playbooks for containment and remediation.
- Better decision-making through centralized, standardized data collection and analysis.
- Improved security posture with threat intelligence integrated into SOAR.
- Adaptable automation processes for platform-specific challenges.
- Security orchestration makes it easier to find and handle threats by combining alerts from various tools.
- Simplified report generation and automated metrics with SOAR platforms.
- Standardized communication during incident response supported by SOAR tools.
- Enhanced visibility and situational awareness for proactive threat hunting and prevention.
Other considerations:
- Choose a SOAR tool that integrates well with your existing firewall, SIEM, and platforms.
- Have staff available 24/7 to monitor the SOAR system, or consider outsourcing if you cannot recruit additional employees.
- Having the right tools and automation in place is crucial for effectively managing threat intelligence in your security operations.
What is Threat Intelligence, and Why is it One of the Elements of SOAR?
Threat intelligence (TI) is a crucial aspect of understanding and protecting against cybersecurity threats. It involves collecting and analyzing information to comprehend and anticipate risks to computer systems. According to Gartner analyst Rob McMillan, TI is evidence-based knowledge derived from various sources, such as malware, network traffic, and user activity, which helps inform decisions regarding responses to potential hazards.
One technique for identifying malware involves using hash values, unique identifiers that represent specific files or codes. Security researchers can swiftly determine if a file is a threat by comparing its hash value to a database of known malware hash values. However, security teams often struggle with the overwhelming number of alerts and indicators they receive. To address this challenge, Threat Intelligence extensions can offer a comprehensive solution that combines aggregation, scoring, and sharing with automation, helping teams manage threat intelligence and bolster defenses.
These extensions can be built-in or integrated with SOAR tools. Nevertheless, playbooks are only as effective as the data used to create them. To overcome these limitations, teams need actionable, real-time data on threats integrated into their SOAR solutions. TI enables the comparison of attacks, understanding the type and capabilities of the malware, and the development of defense strategies against them. Additionally, TI allows harmful IP addresses, websites, and email addresses to be registered in advance, thus SOAR and other security software can block them.
By using threat intelligence like this, security teams can improve how they find and react to threats, which improves their security posture overall.
Are SOAR tools user-friendly? Outsource or Inhouse?
There are plenty of user-friendly SOAR tools available in the market, with many offering predefined automated processes, playbook templates, and additional features to make tasks easier. Moreover, creating playbooks has been made more practical with drag-and-drop functionality. We can generally say that these tools have user-friendly interfaces. However, setting up, managing, and maintaining the daily operation of a SOAR system requires specific skills and expertise.
The successful operation of SOAR requires different skill sets, such as security engineers who need to create effective playbooks and security analysts who need to classify cases according to severity and response. While security engineers require expertise in potential attacks, collaboration, documentation, and possibly programming skills, security analysts need to have threat management and response capabilities. IT managers of small and medium-sized companies should carefully evaluate whether they have the necessary skills to operate SOAR. Based on my experience, I recommend that the task of security engineering be left to third-party providers or professionals in the field, as this requires specialized expertise. Conversely, the task of security analysts should involve the classification of cases according to severity, with low and medium-level cases evaluated by IT managers, and dealing with high-grade threats should be left to experts. To manage security operations effectively, companies can consider outsourcing these specialists or establishing a dedicated unit in-house. If you need more information or assistance in making the right decision, feel free to reach out to me anytime.
As we come to the end of this article, I hope this article gave you useful information about SOAR and cybersecurity. Wishing you all the best, stay safe and take cybersecurity seriously! I am looking forward to helping you with more content in the future.
Whether you’re a cybersecurity expert or just getting started, join me as we explore cybersecurity through the lens of storytelling. 📖🔍 Follow along to learn more and stay safe online. More stories and allegories are coming… 📚👀 #cybersecurity #allegory #storytelling
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