Artificial intelligence and automation have been prominent buzzwords in the cybersecurity realm, yet many enterprises struggle to fully harness their potential for incident response. In today’s rapidly evolving threat landscape, manual security processes are insufficient to keep pace with the onslaught of threats.
This blog delves into the current state of cybersecurity, the challenges faced by organizations in combating the surge of cyber attacks and security alerts, and introduces the concept of a “tierless” Autonomous Security Operations Center to streamline operations and optimize resources.
Stuck In a Loop: Top 3 SecOps Challenges
As cyber attacks proliferate and new technologies emerge, security teams find themselves increasingly reliant on data and insights that demand manual verification and investigation to confirm threats and initiate incident response protocols.
The hurdles encountered by security teams on a daily basis can be categorized into three primary areas: People, Technology, and Budget. Each category presents unique challenges and corresponding solutions that the security industry has devised to surmount them.
Let’s address these challenges individually.
1. People Challenges in SecOps
Never-Ending Cybersecurity Talent Shortage
The expanding threat landscape, the proliferation of new security products, and the exponential growth of data have created an unprecedented demand for skilled professionals and resources. However, there is a finite limit to the number of personnel that organizations can recruit and train.
Traditional security operation centers have historically relied on tiered teams, with Tier 1 SOC analysts responsible for alert monitoring, preliminary investigation, and triage. Yet, the escalating volume of alerts has led to increased costs and burdens associated with maintaining these SOC analyst tiers.
Security Alert Fatigue
Alert fatigue poses a significant challenge for organizations, particularly when alert volumes surge while staffing levels remain constant or decrease. Security teams are inundated with thousands of alerts daily, necessitating top-tier performance and decision-making to safeguard organizational security.
Alert fatigue primarily impacts Tier 1 SOC analysts, who may lack experience and face overwhelming responsibilities, leading to the potential for costly errors. When SOC analysts’ quality of life and work are compromised, organizations are left vulnerable to security risks.
2. Technology Challenges in SecOps
Lack of Focus from Too Many Scattered Tools
The expanding attack surface has spawned a multitude of security solutions that aim to address diverse issues, generating copious amounts of data and subsequent alerts. Security teams find themselves constantly shifting focus between different systems, leading to potential redundancy and missed critical alerts.
Efforts to consolidate data and alerts into a unified system have been undertaken by many organizations to mitigate focus dispersion. However, false positives remain a persistent challenge that demands attention.
Too Many False Positives
To address the issue of false positives, the cybersecurity industry has leaned towards leveraging outsourced services to manage Tier 1 SOC level tasks in the incident response process. Nevertheless, these services often rely on conventional investigation methods and teams of SOC analysts, perpetuating issues related to alert fatigue and scattered tools.
3. Budget Challenges in SecOps
Falling Revenue and Cutting Costs
Security teams frequently find themselves categorized as cost-center teams, with operational expenses outweighing revenue generation. The budget allocated to security teams comprises talent and solutions costs, with the latter witnessing a continuous increase, as projected by Gartner.
Amidst economic pressures, companies are urging security teams to curtail expenses, placing significant strain on CISOs and SecOps leaders to make impactful decisions that affect the entire organization.
What about outsourcing Security Operation functions?
The concept of outsourced SOC providers has been prevalent for some time, yet lingering doubts persist regarding the efficacy of this approach. The quality of the SOC service provider and the trust between parties often fall short, resulting in redundant work and a lack of complete transparency.
Next-Generation, AI-Powered Incident Response Automation
To combat these challenges, a paradigm shift is imperative. The conventional incident response process is outdated, requiring custom-built playbooks that are costly to develop and maintain. Automated SecOps offers a proactive approach to incident response, reducing dependency on alerts and manual interventions.
Why Now is the Time for More Incident Response Automation
Cybersecurity vendors have long touted AI and automation solutions, with recent advancements in XDRs and SOAR playbooks facilitating the automation of processes. The current landscape is ripe for adopting innovative incident response methods powered by AI for several reasons:
- Tech Maturity – Most security tools now offer AI and automation capabilities, enabling seamless integrations and advanced workflows.
- Scalability – Automation is resilient to fluctuations in alert volumes, ensuring consistent performance regardless of scale.
- Visibility – By automating incident response processes internally, organizations maintain control and gain comprehensive insights into analyses performed on alerts and incidents.
Automation allows organizations to establish “tierless” SOC teams, maximizing internal capacity for strategic decision-making and threat mitigation.
Where Do You Start Automating Your Incident Response Process?
The most time-consuming tasks in incident response offer the greatest potential for automation. By automating repetitive tasks, organizations can significantly reduce their daily workload in SecOps.
| Tasks Performed | Task Purpose | Automation Opportunity |
| File, URL, DNS, and IP scanning | Reputation-based tasks conducted by Tier 1 analysts for alert triage. | Tools for these tasks are readily available, offering automation potential for recurring activities. |
| Memory scan for malware analysis / Sandboxing for behavior analysis | Deeper investigations conducted by analysts for escalated incidents. | Online tools and solutions provide automation capabilities for these tasks, streamlining the investigative process. |
| Proactive Threat Hunting | Custom queries crafted by analysts for threat detection. | While challenging to automate due to evolving IOCs, tools like EDRs and big data engines offer API integrations for streamlined querying. |
Robots Can’t Replace All Human Knowledge and Interaction
Although automation plays a crucial role in enhancing efficiency, human knowledge and intervention remain indispensable in incident response. The dynamic nature of threats and organizations necessitates human adaptability and strategic decision-making.
Security teams must adopt an automation-first mindset to optimize efficiency and productivity in SecOps. By prioritizing incident response automation, teams can alleviate operational burdens and focus on critical tasks, safeguarding against alert fatigue and ensuring operational resilience.
For a demonstration of how Intezer automates investigation and incident response processes, schedule a demo to explore how our solutions can enhance your security operations.
Matan Eli Matalon serves as the Information Security Manager at Intezer, overseeing Corporate Security, Compliance, Incident Response, and Internal Product Implementations.
