Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) in Cyber Security

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Businesses today face many challenges with their security goals. Finding the right people takes time; when they see it, they need to focus on critical tasks, not just repetitive ones. Also, many organizations use different technologies that need to work together. However, they can’t connect smoothly. While we can't add more hours to the day, we can save time and achieve security goals. That's where security orchestration automation and response help.
 

With a proper system like SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response), we can do more in less time while still letting people make crucial decisions. Instead of using separate systems that don't talk to each other, we use a system that helps us build processes and connects us with the right people and tech to reach our goals.

SOAR Meaning in Cyber Security

SOAR stands for security orchestration automation and response. It's an advanced software that helps security teams in big companies work better. In these companies, security teams use lots of tools to find and stop cyber threats, but sometimes, they do things manually, which slows them down. A study by IBM and Morning Consult found that 81% of companies felt that manually doing things slowed them in responding to threats.
 

SOAR tools put all their software in one place and help them work faster by doing some tasks automatically. It also helps them manage all the alerts they get in one spot.
 

By making things faster and helping tools work together, SOARs help teams find and stop threats quickly. As a result, it is essential because it means companies can save money if they can prevent a cyberattack faster. For example, if a breach is fixed in less than 200 days, it costs companies about $1.02 million less on average, which is a big difference.

What are the Three Fundamental Elements of Security Orchestration Automation and Response SOAR?

After understanding soar definition, we will know its components.
 

SOAR technology combines three older security tools into one. Gartner, a significant research company, coined the term "SOAR" in 2015. SOAR platforms do three main things: they help manage security incidents, coordinate security tasks, and use intelligence to spot threats.
 

1. Security Orchestration: This is about connecting and organizing all the security tools the company uses. Multiple tools are available, like firewalls, threat alerts, and software that protect computers. Sometimes, even simple tasks like checking an email for threats involve using different tools. SOAR makes these tools work together smoothly. It's like having a conductor for a security orchestra!
    
2. Security Automation: SOAR automation can also do tasks automatically. For example, if a threat is detected, SOAR can start figuring out what to do without needing a technical expert to do it all manually.
    
3. Incident Response: This is how SOAR helps teams respond when something wrong happens, like a cyberattack. SOAR uses "playbooks," which are like step-by-step guides for dealing with threats. These playbooks can be fully automatic, fully manual, or a mix of both, depending on what's needed.
    

In other phrases, the SOAR platform is a tool that makes security tasks easier by connecting tools, doing things automatically, and guiding teams on what to do when there's a problem.

What is the Primary Purpose of SOAR?

Today, as technology gets more complex, companies face significant challenges with cybersecurity. There are so many tricky and harmful threats out there that it's hard for companies to keep up and stay safe. That's where security orchestration automation and response comes in, changing how security teams handle alerts and threats.
 

Right now, security teams have to deal with several alerts regularly, and they do it by hand, which can lead to mistakes and wasted time. Plus, their tools are often old and don't work well together, and there aren't enough skilled people to help.
 

• Connect all your security tools: You can use different tools from different companies and see everything in one place.
• See everything in one spot: Your team gets a unique screen where they can see all the information they need to solve problems. They don't have to switch between lots of different screens anymore.
• React faster to problems: This super tool helps your team find and fix issues quickly. It does multiple things automatically so your team can focus on the important stuff.
• Save time on tedious tasks: The tool also helps your team avoid doing the same monotonous tasks over and over again. In short, they can spend more time on important things.
• Get better information: The tool collects and checks information from different sources so your team knows more about what's going on. However, it makes it easier to solve problems and do things better in the future.
• Share information: Everyone who needs to know about security data can see it all in one place. As a result, it makes it easier for everyone to work together and make decisions.
• Make better decisions: The tool is designed to be easy to use, even for people who aren't experts.

Security Orchestration Tools

After understanding the purpose of security orchestration automation and response, we will define some popular tools of SOAR.
 

• Splunk
• IBM Security QRadar SOAR
• Palo Alto Networks
• Fortinet
• Rapid7
• Microsoft Sentinel
• Chronicle SOAR

Here, we have provided you with the best tools for Security Orchestration. Now, we will move further.

SOAR Security Examples

The following section will go through some ways SOAR can help with security:
 

• Doing lots of manual security tasks and needing to do them faster.
• Helping the in-house security team with incident response.
• Dealing with a lot of phishing emails and needing to handle them better.
• Checking certificates to see if they're going to expire soon.
• Automatically fixing computers that are infected with viruses.
• Making it easier to manage security cases when using many different tools.

Concluding Words

In today's fast-moving digital world, keeping data safe is super important. With all the tricky threats out there, companies need savvy ways to manage their security. That's where SOAR (security orchestration automation and response) comes in—it's like a super tool that helps teams work together better, do things faster, and handle problems quickly. SOAR does this by bringing together different security tools and making them work as a team. In short, some rarer mistakes and faster responses to issues. It also helps teams see all the necessary information in one place, do things automatically, and get valuable insights to make better decisions.