The security operations center (SOC) is an increasingly crucial part of the modern business's cybersecurity approach. One or two IT workers and an anti-malware program are no longer enough to handle a company's cybersecurity. Cyberthreats are more prominent than ever, bringing new urgency to cybersecurity and new stress to SOCs.
Cybercrime is rising fast, and many SOCs have had difficulty keeping pace. In one study, 32% of surveyed businesses said their SOC is only moderately effective, and another 26% said they're ineffective. Automation may provide a solution.
Accelerating Response Times
Once an SOC detects a threat, it must respond as quickly as possible. Simultaneously, you need to analyze the danger first to know how to react appropriately. Automating parts of this process streamlines it, letting SOCs work faster.
Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered security tools can search for threats alongside workers as well as analyze and evaluate them. They effectively give SOCs a larger workforce without having to hire any more security specialists. Automation helps reduce the overall workload and handles tasks faster than a human could.
Data-heavy work like threat analysis is what automated tools do best. They can determine the gravity of a given situation and suggest possible courses of action in mere seconds. From there, human employees can take over and address the threat as fast as possible.
Preventing Errors From Repetition and Exhaustion
Another primary benefit of automation in an SOC is that automated systems don't get tired. In some SOCs, workers monitor threats on a 24-hour basis, and they need to be alert the entire time. If you're tired after hours of repetitive work, you likely won't pay as much attention.
Even the most skilled analysts could misidentify threats if they're exhausted. Automation helps prevent these burnout-related incidents by handling the most repetitive work for employees. By automating the more tedious parts of the job, SOCs can let workers focus on other, more engaging tasks.
When your work is less repetitive and tiring, you can deliver better performance. As a result, automation enables human security analysts to reach their fullest potential. SOCs can then scale up their operations without worrying about overworking employees.
Adapting With Changing Threats
Perhaps the most significant driver behind SOC automation is the growing rate at which threats evolve. More cyberthreats emerge almost daily, and as security professionals develop new defenses, cybercriminals find novel ways around them. Keeping up with these changes can be challenging without automated tools to help.
A recent study found that 93% of SOCs are employing AI and machine learning for advanced threat detection. These tools can find new hazards and search through public databases for information on similar reported incidents. Automating this part of the process gives security specialists a head start in addressing these less-familiar problems.
With advances like unsupervised machine learning, automated tools are a more helpful resource than ever. They can connect what they detect and what they've seen in the past to find potential answers to novel problems. SOCs can then respond and adapt to new threats far more effectively.
Automation Fills Gaps Left by Human Limits
Automation in the cybersecurity sector won't replace the need for human security professionals, at least not anytime soon. As essential as human workers are, though, there's only so much a person can do in a short time. Automation can account for these limits, filling in any natural security gaps they leave.
Implementing automated security tools lets SOCs get the most out of their skilled professionals. Automation won't handle everything, but it does what it does best, leaving workers to do what they do best. With robust cybersecurity becoming increasingly crucial, these benefits are indispensable.
Written by:
Shannon Flynn
Shannon Flynn is a tech writer who covers topics like cybersecurity, business technology, and data. You can find her work on Hackernoon, Cybint Solutions, Irish Tech News, and ReHack.com. Visit ReHack for other trending tech topics covered by Shannon..
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