Businesses of all sizes continually seek ways to increase\nefficiency and profitability in all areas of their organization \u2014 everything\nfrom general operations to cyber security. Regardless of how you feel about automation\non a personal level \u2014 whether you think automation is great or it\u2019s the\nharbinger of death for cyber security jobs \u2014 it doesn\u2019t change the fact that\nautomation is poised to change the very nature of cyber security jobs in the\nfuture. That\u2019s because one of the best ways to accomplish many of the goals business\nhave is to integrate process automation and cyber security automation into\ntheir operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Business automation comes in many forms, though, and can\ninclude a variety of process automation and security automation tools. So, what\nare these tools, how do they work, and how can they be integrated into your\nsecurity processes? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s hash it out.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n When you hear the term \u201ccyber security automation,\u201d what\ncomes to mind? This form of automation is all about leveling the playing field\nbetween cyber security experts and cybercriminals. The goal is to reduce the\nnumber of threats by eliminating vulnerabilities through the prevention of\nknown cyber threats and identification of zero-day attacks. <\/p>\n\n\n<\/span><\/span>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s drill down a bit more. Cyber security automation is\nalso about: <\/p>\n\n\n\n All of these things are ideal for every organization.\nAfter all, making a business more efficient and reallocating human resources to\nwhere they\u2019re most needed should be every company\u2019s goal. But this level of\nimprovement often requires the solutions and platforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many industry reports indicate that cyber security\nspending is on the rise for enterprises and businesses around the world. Data from\nIDC<\/a> shows that global spending on cyber security solutions is anticipated to\ntop $103 billion this year alone. Moreover, the market for cyber\nsecurity automation \u2014 which includes the use of AI and ML \u2014 is anticipated to\ngrow for the foreseeable future. In fact, a Research\nand Markets report<\/a> indicates that the AI cyber security market is projected\nto surpass $38 billion by 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Investing in cyber security solutions and automation\nplatforms is essential for all businesses \u2014 particularly as cybercriminals\nlaunch increasingly complex cyber attacks. But what kind of tools and solutions\nare available? Check \u2018em out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some examples of process automation solutions and\nplatforms for cyber security include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll cover many of the benefits of each of these\ndifferent cyber security automation solutions and how they contribute to\nimproving efficiency, increasing cyber security effectiveness, reducing costs,\nand improving overall organizational processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In general, robotic process automation refers to the\nprocess of using robots \u2014 whether physical or virtual such as software bots \u2014 to\nautomate repetitive tasks. With regard to cyber security and security\nautomation, this typically refers to allowing automated systems to handle\nlow-cognitive functions such as scanning, monitoring, and low-level incident\nresponse. You know, extract and aggregating data, performing basic threat\nsearch and detection processes, and other low-cognitive tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are multiple benefits of using RPA from logistical,\nrisk, and compliance standpoints. For one, it makes cyber security more\nefficient by removing the burden of manually performing repetitive tasks. It\nalso helps you to minimize the biggest cyber security vulnerability: human\ninteraction. Whether intentional or by human error, people pose the biggest\nrisk to the cyber wellbeing of organizations and businesses. By removing the\nhuman aspect, it makes your data more secure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Borrowing from Ernst & Young Global Limited\u2019s (EY\u2019s)\nresearch<\/a> and building upon it, there are several ways that software\nrobotics can aid in reducing cyber security vulnerabilities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, RPA can help your business stay compliant\nwith some regulations such as the EU\u2019s General\nData Protection Regulation<\/a> (GDPR) or Payment\nCard Industry Data Security Standards<\/a> (PCI DSS). For example, automation\ncan be used for data collection, to roll out informed consent notifications,\ndata breach notifications, as well as to document all data that\u2019s held by your\norganization for audits. Why dedicate many employees to performing such tedious\ntasks when automation technologies can do it for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n RPA offers many advantages to enterprises and other\norganizations. However, no organization should rely on RPA alone for more\nin-depth security operations that require higher cognitive and analytical\ncapabilities. This part is still best left to a mix of cognitive-learning\ntechnologies and the intervention of human analysts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Security\norchestration automation and response<\/a> \u2014 sometimes just referred to as security\norchestration and automation \u2014 is a term that was coined by Gartner back in\n2017. It refers to a combination of solutions that optimize the capabilities\nand efficiency of your security operations center without tying up your human\nassets in low-level tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It serves to optimize three main cyber security-related\ntasks \u2014 security orchestration, security automation, and security response \u2014 by\nimproving threat and vulnerability management capabilities, security incident\nresponse, and security operations automation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This sounds an awful lot like security incident\nand event management<\/a> solutions, doesn\u2019t it? In many ways, SOAR and SIEM are\nsimilar \u2014after all, they both collect and use relevant data from multiple\nsources for analysis to identify any anomalous activity. While these two\nsolution stacks often work hand-in-hand for security operations centers (SOCs),\nthey\u2019re still different in a few ways: <\/p>\n\n\n\n SOAR is all about using automation to improve your\nsecurity operations and incident response by eliminating repetitive tasks and\norganizing (or \u201corchestrating\u201d) the technology, people, and processes within\nyour organization to their full advantage. For example, in a security\noperations center (SOC), SOAR complements SIEM capabilities by building upon\nthem and providing extra value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Security orchestration even has benefits in terms of preventing\nphishing attacks from being successful. The aforementioned EY research reports\na \u201c50% to 70% reduction in time to detect and response to a phishing attack\u201d\nthrough the use of robotic automation in the data gathering, analysis, and\nremediation processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you know whether SOAR solutions would benefit your\norganization? Is it ROI worth the investment? To determine this, ask yourself\nthe following questions: <\/p>\n\n\n\n If your answer to these questions is \u201cyes,\u201d then,\nobviously, you have some solutions to consider and big decisions to make. After\nall, some security-related tasks lend themselves to automation, and others\u2026\nwell, not so much. Really take the time to carefully weigh the pros and cons of\nintegrating automated solutions for each process to determine its true value to\nyour organization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The widespread use of SSL certificates and keys that\nresulted from Google\u2019s requirement of website encryption has led to the\ncreation of many dangerous blind spots. One of the biggest threats to website\nsecurity \u2014 and the success of your business \u2014 is a lack\nof visibility<\/a> within your network and your public key infrastructure. If\nyou ask yourself the following questions, can you answer them honestly without\neven one iota of concern?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can\u2019t honestly answer those questions definitively? Yeah, we\ndidn\u2019t think so. That, unfortunately, isn\u2019t uncommon. The existence of shadow\ncertificates is a major liability that can result not only in security breaches\nbut costly website downtime or service outages as well. Oh, yeah, and\nthis impacts your bottom line, too, in multiple ways \u2014 lost revenue,\nnoncompliance fines and penalties, and lost customer trust (just to name a\nfew). In\nfact, research from the Ponemon\nInstitute and KeyFactor<\/a> indicates that unanticipated downtime or\noutages cost businesses nearly $3 million in immediate revenue loss, and the\naverage economic loss is estimated at $11.1 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s a lot of lost revenue for something you didn\u2019t even know\nexisted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, how can you keep certificates you aren\u2019t aware of from expiring?\nThis is where cyber security automation and encryption automation come\ninto play in the form of PKI certificate management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Certificate management platforms with certificate\ndiscovery tools help you with more than website certificate management. They\ncan help you to identify all<\/em> of the X.509 digital certificates that\nexist within your network regardless of brand, type, issuance date, or\nexpiration dates \u2014 this includes code signing certificates, client\ncertificates, device and IoT certificates, and SSL\/TLS certificates. An example\nof such a tool is Sectigo Certificate Manager (SCM), or what used to be known\nas Comodo CA Certificate Manager (CCM). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, certificate\nmanagement tools<\/a> can automate many of the time-consuming tasks that are\ninvolved with manually managing hundreds or even thousands of certificates and\nkeys. These tasks include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re not telling you this just to sell you another cyber\nsecurity product, although we do so happen to sell a really great certificate\nmanagement platform. Rather, we\u2019re trying to really drive home the point that certificate\nmanagement is a very real, very significant<\/em> concern for every business\nthat uses digital certificates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Still don\u2019t believe us? Just look at some of the major\nheadlines over the past two years. Expired\ncertificates<\/a> have brought down some of the biggest names in technology and\nother industries, including Ericsson, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even U.S.\ngovernment websites! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t be like these guys \u2014 keep visibility of your\ndigital certificates at all times by taking advantage of the certificate\nmanagement automation solutions that are available nowadays. After all, a CM\nplatform is way cheaper than the noncompliance fines, lawsuit settlements, and\nlawyers you\u2019ll otherwise be paying when shit eventually hits the fan. <\/p>\n\n\n<\/span><\/span>\n\n\n Another category we\u2019d be remiss to not at least mention is\nthe concept of developing custom automation solutions. We understand that every\nbusiness is different and the needs of organizations across a variety of industries\nalso differs. And while some existing cyber security automation solutions can\nbe useful, your specific organization may find it beneficial to create custom\nsolutions that are tailored to meet the specific needs of your business. This\nmay be something that your internal development team can handle, but more than\nlikely you\u2019ll want to hand that off to a third-party service provider. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cyber security automation offers advantages in terms of\nmoney saved and being to use your IT security professionals most effectively. Although\nthe technology isn\u2019t perfect, AI ad ML in cyber security provide significant\nadvantages that outweigh many of the drawbacks of the technology. As such, it\u2019s\neasy to see why security automation is listed as one of our top five cyber\nsecurity trends<\/a> for 2019 \u2014 although we expect this to continue well beyond\neven 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you invested yet in cyber security and encryption\nautomation for your organization? As always, share your thoughts and opinions\nin the comments below. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A look at top security automation solutions & how they improve operational efficiency and cyber security Businesses of all sizes continually seek ways to increase efficiency and profitability in all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":11487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":0,"tcb_editor_enabled":0,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[11107],"class_list":["post-11486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hashing-out-cyber-security","tag-automation","post-with-tags"],"views":26664,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Security-Automation.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Benefits of Cyber Security Automation and Ongoing Growth of the\nIndustry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Cyber Security Automation Tools and Platforms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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1. Robotic Process Automation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Advantages of Integrating RPA Into Your Business<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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2. Security Orchestration Automation and Response and Security Incident and\nEvent Management<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Advantages of Using SOAR and SIEM Solutions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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3. Certificate Management <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Advantages of a Certificate Management Platform<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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4. Custom Automation Solution Development<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n