What is SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation and Response)?

Today, cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated and frequent. Hackers are employing increasingly sophisticated techniques, and even the most dynamic organisations are struggling to keep up. To maintain security, organisations rely on capable tools that can detect threats, respond quickly, and facilitate recovery in the event of a cyberattack. One of the most effective types of tools a company can deploy is a SOAR, or Security Orchestration, Automation and Response. The SOAR tools have additional features that help Security teams respond faster and more accurately. In this blog, you will explore SOAR in detail.

Table of Contents:

• What is SOAR?
• How Does SOAR Work?
• Key Features and Capabilities of SOAR
• How SOAR Enriches Security Alerts with Data
• Top SOAR Tools
• Key Benefits of SOAR Implementation
• Challenges of Implementing SOAR
• Common Applications of SOAR
• SOAR vs SIEM vs XDR Key Differences
• Best Practices for Optimizing SOAR Performance
• Conclusion

What is SOAR?

SOAR stands for Security Orchestration, Automation and Response. 

Security Orchestration, Automation and Response refers to a landscape of software/tools that provide security teams with the following capabilities:

• Collecting data from many diverse security tools (like firewalls or antivirus software).
• Automating manual tasks.
• Responding to cyber threats efficiently and intelligently.
• Tools have the objective of accelerating the operational work of security teams. 

Many tasks can be accomplished automatically by the system, rather than being done manually.

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How Does Soar Work?

It brings all your security tools together in a single system to allow it to collect data from:

• Firewalls
• Antivirus software
• Email security tools
• Cloud platforms
• All other security devices, etc.

Security Orchestration, Automation and Response also automates:

• Analyzing data to detect threats.
• Deciding what to do based on a set of rules or playbooks.
• Taking actions to mitigate threats, which include blocking an IP address, issuing a team alert, or removing a device from the network to stop the propagation of the attack.

When Should Organizations Implement SOAR?

1. Security Team Overload
When analysts are overwhelmed by high volumes of alerts, SOAR helps by automating repetitive tasks and reducing manual workload.

2. Slow or Inconsistent Incident Response
If response times are too long or vary across analysts, SOAR enforces standardized and automated response procedures.

3. Multiple Disconnected Security Tools
Organizations using several tools (like SIEM, firewalls, threat intel platforms) can benefit from SOAR’s ability to integrate and orchestrate them in one workflow.

4. Growing Compliance and Audit Demands
SOAR platforms automatically log and document all activities, helping meet compliance standards like NIST, GDPR, and ISO 27001 with less manual effort.

5. Underused Threat Intelligence
When threat intelligence feeds aren’t being fully utilized, SOAR can automate enrichment and correlation to make that data actionable.

Key Features and Capabilities of SOAR

• Automation: Automation lets you bypass tedious and repetitive steps, like sending alerts or blocking malicious files, so you don’t waste effort doing the same thing over and over again. 
• Playbooks: Playbook features in SOAR products are designed to give you perfectly crafted workflows to take during different types of attacks, and ensure that each incident is dealt with in the right way.
• Case Management: It keeps a record of every incident (or “case”) so your security team doesn’t lose sight of what’s been done and what still needs to be completed to handle the incident.
• Threat Intelligence: It brings in relevant information from outside sources (for example, known attack patterns or risky IP addresses) to empower the security teams’ detection of threats and make them smarter.
• Reports and Dashboards: Each product of it will allow easy-to-understand real-time visualisation to see what is happening in your security operation, enabling a visual and efficient way to act on and manage incidents.

How SOAR Enriches Security Alerts with Data

Data enrichment is the process of adding more information to raw data, so it becomes more actionable and comprehensible. Upon receiving a security alert, you may only have limited information, such as an IP address or file name. Security Orchestration, Automation and Response adds value to this data by gathering additional information from internal and external sources. 

To explain this process, here is how it works in simple steps:  

If a SOAR system is alerted to a suspicious IP address, it could automatically look this up in a threat intelligence database to learn:  

• Where the IP is advertised from (geolocation)  
• If it has appeared in previous cyberattacks  
• What type of potential threat it may be (malware, phishing, etc.)  
• The risk or reputation score of that IP.

If a file hash has been captured in the alert, it could also look this up in antivirus engines or sandbox reports to find out:  

• If the file is malicious.  
• If the file has been seen in previous attacks.  
• What type of behavior it exhibited when called/executed.  

If an email address was tagged in the alert, SOAR would look up:  

• If the email address belongs to an identified phishing campaign.  
• If other users in the organization had similar email messages.  
• If domain blacklists are associated with the email address.

Top SOAR Tools

Below are some of the top SOAR tools in the industry: 

• Splunk (previously Phantom): Splunk uses visual playbooks to automate tasks associated with responding to incidents and threats, and it has a wide range of integrations with other security tools. 
• IBM Security QRadar: IBM QRadar is one of IBM’s broader security offerings. This product provides a strong focus on incident response and cases. It has playbooks, automated workflows, and integrations with IBM QRadar SIEM. The product assists analysts in looking through incidents in the investigation pipeline.
• Swimlane: Swimlane is a very flexible and highly customizable platform. It emphasizes low-code automation, which allows users to quickly design processes. Big companies share resources to automate tough tasks and fix problems faster.
• Siemplify (now part of Google Cloud): Siemplify has an intuitive UI with strong case management features. It assists security operation teams in managing alerts, building automated responses, and collaborating effectively. Now owned by Google Cloud, it integrates well with other cloud-based infrastructure that you may be using.

The main features of these tools include:

• Easy integration with several types of tools (SIEM/specialty, firewall, endpoint)
• Pre-built playbooks and templates
• Custom dashboards and real-time reporting
• Case management capabilities to promote collaboration within and among teams
• Scalable platforms that allow for growth, changes to your products/settings, or information-seeking capabilities.

 Key Benefits of SOAR Implementation

• Saves Time: It handles multiple routine and repetitive functions, like checking alerts, obtaining details on threats, and sometimes communicating. This means security teams can respond quickly and not feel rushed on high-severity issues.
• Fewer Mistakes: Manual processes bring the opportunity for human error at pressure points. SOAR’s response to alerts automates many functions based on criteria that were preset. Automating the response with improved context makes the security operations more reliable.
• Faster Response: These tools can identify threats, analyze them, and take action, either automatically or with help from analysts, sometimes within seconds. The simple act of blocking an IP address or isolating a machine can stop a threat from spreading and intensifying.
• Improved Productivity: With many tasks handled by these tools, security analysts do not have to perform everything manually. Consequently, security teams are able to respond to more incidents per team member in less time, without burnout.
• Better Decisions: SOAR has data enrichment, dashboards, and threat intelligence, but more data does not guarantee better decision-making. However, the context that SOAR provides around each incident of interest allows analysts to make better and faster decisions with the correct data.

Challenges of Implementing SOAR

• Can Be Difficult to Implement: It can be difficult to implement. Setting up your integrations, configurations, and workflows can take considerable time. 
• It Takes Time to Create Effective Playbooks: Playbooks provide guidelines for dealing with various threats. It takes time to develop proper playbooks as you need to think through how they will be used, properly test them, and update them.
• May Require Some Training for the Team: Security teams may need additional training on how to leverage the features included in the SOAR tooling. Without the proper training and knowledge, they may not be able to fully leverage SOAR capabilities. 
• Must Incorporate Workflows Into Existing Tools: SOAR requires integration with existing tools: firewalls, AV tools, SIEM, etc. If the integration is not built properly or takes a long time to cycle, it could result in lost time or alerts being retried.

Common Applications of SOAR

• Incident Response: SOAR streamlines how teams respond to security incidents, from detecting a potential threat to acting on an impact like blocking access or triggering alerts.
• Threat Hunting: SOAR helps security teams search for threats that are hiding within the network by collecting data from multiple sources.
• Vulnerability Management: If known vulnerabilities exist in a system, SOAR can facilitate immediate actions such as applying patches or notifying related teams.
• Compliance Reporting: SOAR creates a record of every action taken during incidents. Logs help in audits and show that cybersecurity teams are following legal or industry rules.

SOAR vs SIEM vs XDR Key Differences

Best Practices for Optimizing SOAR Performance

• Start with High-Value Use Cases: Start by automating the tasks that are the most time-consuming or that are repeated most often.
• Keep Your Playbooks Simple and Clear: Use easy-to-follow steps that make the workflows comprehensible and easier to maintain.
• Review and Refresh Playbooks Often: Make it a habit to refresh your playbooks based on emerging threats or feedback from your team.
• Onboard and Train Your Team to use SOAR: Make sure everyone understands how it works and how to use it correctly.
• Use Dashboards to View Key Performance Indicators: Dashboards give a quick overview of what is occurring in an organization, providing visibility into performance, response times, and opportunities for improvements.

Conclusion

Security Orchestration, Automation and Response is a useful tool that allows today’s security teams to manage risk and respond faster and more efficiently than before. SOAR helps automate repetitive processes, improve response times to incidents, and make security operations more efficient. With incidents and cyber threats continuing to grow, organizations are increasingly turning to SOAR for help and support in their cybersecurity operations. To get the most out of SOAR, it’s important to set it up properly, connect it with other security tools, and avoid mistakes like over-automation or using outdated playbooks. Consistent updates of playbooks and staff training are essential to the overall strategy and success when implemented with SOAR.

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