Today, the network security workforce is constantly dealing with new and improved threats arriving at a faster speed than at any time in history. A simple act of logging into an account that seems out of place from a typical account, a ton of unusual traffic traps on your ISP router, and an unexpected configuration change are just a few things that could become a huge security risk to your company if they are not acted upon immediately.
In this article, we will discuss the reasons why incident response automation is quickly becoming a necessary component of an organization’s overall network security strategy.
We will also provide a discussion of the limitations of traditional incident response processes, the gains from incident response automation, and the building blocks of how organizations can effectively create an automated response framework to provide effective speed, consistency, and resiliency from evolving types of cyber threats.
Why is manual incident response no longer enough?
The current incident response strategy is reliant on a coordinated effort among humans. Analysts must review alerts from intrusion detection or other systems, retrieve logs, validate indicators, reference procedures, escalate for decision-making, and take the necessary action to contain an incident as per Netpicker.
Several major limitations hinder this approach, which are as follows:
- The first limitation is that investigation time varies based on how experienced the analyst is who is conducting the investigation.
- Another limitation is that repetitive activities like log aggregation and isolating systems take too much time.
- Lastly, if an organization uses multiple teams or operations across various geographical regions, response actions may not be identified/generated with the same level of consistency.
For distributed enterprises with operations spread across multiple time zones, these delays multiply. During the time that elapses between when the incident occurs and when the coordination occurs, attackers could perform lateral movement, filter data, or deploy ransomware in network security.
Manual response processes were designed for less dynamic environments. Modern threats on the network execute very rapidly, not over the course of multiple days as per Netpicker.
What does incident response automation actually mean?
Incident response automation will not remove the human element from the equation. Rather, it will enhance and support the work performed by an analyst.
Automation integrates detection systems, network controls, and incident response workflows so that specific automated responses occur based on established parameters in network security.
This includes all possible forms of tasks from various sources, whether in a traditional or cloud-based environment.
For example, automated action can do the following:
- Isolate compromised computers
- Deny access to malicious IP addresses
- Deny access to all credentials (not just compromised)
- Activate network segmentation capabilities
- Automatically collect forensic evidence
- Automatically notify all interested parties
Because these steps occur programmatically, containment begins immediately, rather than being delayed until manual coordination has occurred in network security as per Netpicker.
What is the importance of automation in protecting networks?
- Faster threat isolation
Automated processes provide an instant response when questionable behavior has been identified by executing automated isolation policies within seconds to limit lateral movement and lessen any potential damages.
- Consistent execution of playbook procedures
There is often a wide variety of human responses to the execution of playbook procedures; however, the use of automation creates more consistent execution of the response regardless of when the action is performed (i.e., at the end of each shift).
- Lessened work observer workload
While analysts will continue to assist in collecting information or enforcing rules, the usage of automated solutions performing these very repetitive, tedious tasks will provide analysts with greater opportunity to focus on the actual investigation, strategy development, and determining actionable, operational decisions in network security.
- Improved coordination across hybrid environments
The current enterprise environment encompasses a hybrid environment (i.e., on-premise and cloud); therefore, the use of automated orchestration provides an opportunity for the consistent execution of isolation across both environments.
- Ongoing continual improvement through feedback
Automated tools generate comprehensive logs and provide comprehensive metrics detailing how effective each isolated response was. The organization can use this information to enhance the continual improvement process to refine further and develop new workflows and measure the effectiveness of their ability to address any of the threat responses as per Netpicker.
Let’s see the strategic impact on business.
Automating incident response is not only a technological improvement; there are measurable business aspects involved as well.
Examples of measurable business aspects include the following:
- Reduction of breach impact leads to reduced financial risk.
- More rapid containment protects the reputation of brands.
- A more consistent response improves regulatory compliance.
- Increased operational efficiency results from automating incident response processes.
- A more resilient organization enhances the confidence of executives.
For today’s senior management, the relevant question has changed from “Will incidents occur?” to “Will my organization be able to respond in a timely manner and minimize the damage caused by the incident?”
The answer to that question can be achieved by leveraging automation technologies.
How to build an effective automated incident response framework?
An organization will often implement incident response automation in phases.
The initial phase involves developing standardized response playbooks and determining the appropriate containment actions.
Without documented processes, there will be no clear direction for the automation to follow in network security.
The next phase involves integrating security tools through orchestration platforms that join detection systems together with enforcement controls.
The third phase of automation creates an automated capability for high-confidence actions such as isolating endpoints or blocking known bad indicators.
As time goes on, automation continues to expand, allowing more complex decision trees to be implemented with the use of contextual risk analysis in network security.
The important thing to remember is to have a good balance. Automation should be used primarily for predictable tasks while escalating ambiguous scenarios to a human analyst for review and evaluation.
What are the common concerns about automation?
Many decision-makers are concerned that using automated responses may interrupt normal business operations.
This is a valid concern; therefore, we recommend clearly defining thresholds and validation logic for use in the automation process to address this concern.
There is also an additional concern about being overly dependent on technology.
The truth is that even with automated processes, people are still involved in overseeing them and will carry on to perform complete investigations after performing the basic containment activities guided by the automated system.
Ultimately, automated processes help to increase control rather than decrease it if implemented appropriately.
To conclude, using automation in incident response procedures, organizations can act immediately to contain threats, execute their playbooks consistently, and coordinate their response activities both in network and cloud environments.To know more about network security, contact us at Netpicker!