Automated systems are no longer a luxury in the cybersecurity world. Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning programs is the only way for cybersecurity teams to keep up with the onslaught of potential threats and attacks that network operators face daily.
Thankfully, with the merger of automated systems into the cybersecurity framework, optimizing your programs to match your needs is easier than ever. This security automation development comes just in time because the demands on cybersecurity departments have never been higher and the threats have never been greater.
Knowing this, how can organizations use automated tools to optimize network security, improve security systems and reduce security incidents?
Table of Contents
Use Automated Incident Response
Automated incident response is a system developed to react to security incidents without the guidance of a human security analyst. These programs can assess each incident, determine the level of threat, and react in accordance with custom-built rules and guidelines, developed by the cybersecurity team.
These automated systems streamline the entire process and create higher-level threat detection capabilities while at the same time providing automated reports for their human counterparts. Faster response times lead to better outcomes for all security incidents, including potential breaches. NTT in a recent expert interview said “Through machine learning, security systems can learn from data over time to become better at pattern recognition and identify threats more accurately.”
Leverage Automated Security Processes
Today, security processes that were once time-consuming and tedious are automated, making them more streamlined, more efficient, and better use of resources than at any time in the past. One of the most obvious examples of a process that can be automated is the task of threat hunting.
What is threat hunting? In any network, endpoint devices (such as network terminals, IoT network devices or any other physical access to the network) can be compromised and lead to a malicious actor or piece of software entering your network.
Threat hunting is the proactive search for cyber threats and removing them before they have the chance to cause any damage. Even if they do not catch these malicious actors before they can cause a breach, threat hunting drastically reduces the cost of such incidents, both in time and money. Giving this task to the automated system helps you deal with these threats more quickly and sometimes, without interference needed from the security team.
Improve Security Posture with Cloud-Based Automated Systems
Cloud-based automated systems can be used for everything from security surveillance cameras to access control systems and everything in between. No longer needing to rely solely on human agents in the field gives the cybersecurity team the ability to tackle threats before any critical system functions can be jeopardized by any malicious software or bad actors.
Security tools that are based in the cloud allow for in-depth security posturing that can be scaled to match the organization’s needs without the need to massively increase the cybersecurity staff. Vulnerability management and the state of the entire system can be monitored with cloud-based automated systems.
Use Security Automation Tools
Security automation tools such as SOAR (security orchestration, automation, and response), SIEM (security information and event management) and endpoint protection tools decrease the need for human hands and increase the rate at which the network can be protected.
- Endpoint Protection Tools
These automated systems protect the endpoints in a system such as mobile devices, PCs and other access points such as cloud-based operations. Endpoint protection tools track and monitor these points to protect access to the platform and alert the appropriate departments if there is suspicious activity.
- SOAR Tools
SOAR tools automate all aspects of threat detection and management and security operations. These types of tools normally work with multiple security systems and can react to situations based on programmer instructions, removing the need for a person’s input (at first).
- SIEM Tools
SIEM tools are a way of automating the incidents and events that pertain to the cybersecurity system and cataloging them into a database that can be used for present and future security concerns, as well as to give insights into the organization’s information ecosystem.