For several consecutive years, the size, scope, and frequency of cybersecurity threats have all been increasing. To get an idea of how bad things have gotten, consider that data collected by Microsoft indicates that they're observing up to 12 million attacks per day – and that's just counting the systems they're involved with. For the average business, these troubling statistics mean it's no longer enough to rely on passive security measures alone to prevent a breach or a successful attack on their infrastructure.
The trouble is, while attackers can mount sophisticated attacks with very little overhead by using compromised servers, PCs, and IoT devices, businesses have to invest some serious capital to stop them. There's almost no way for many companies to scale up their threat defense without also scaling up their IT budgets unless they get creative in their approach.
Fortunately, it's now becoming possible for businesses to defend themselves using a sophisticated array of security automation technologies. They allow a small team of network security operators to punch far above their weight and protect ever-larger attack surfaces without giving an inch. Here are the three most cost-effective types of security automation available right now.
Security Orchestration Automation and Response
Taking existing security incident and event management (SIEM) solutions and adding the ability for them to respond independently in real-time to new threats has long been the holy grail of network security management. It is those day-to-day tasks, after all, that make up the vast majority of IT staff workload when it comes to threat defense. Now, the next evolution of such systems, known as security orchestration automation and response (SOAR) makes that possible.
An excellent example of such a system comes right out of the security wing of IBM itself, in a platform known as IBM Security Resilient. It integrates with existing security systems and adds automated incident triage, dynamic response playbooks, and a host of other efficiency-focused features. Having it means less staff time wasted responding to security incidents, less duplicative efforts, and better outcomes. And all without increasing staff size.
Certificate Issuance and Deployment
One of the biggest attack surfaces most businesses have to protect is their public-facing web assets. And security teams often have their hands full just monitoring traffic patterns and keeping code patched and secure against known exploits. In the process, more than a few lose track of their SSL certificates, leading to dangerous security lapses and service outages. Even Microsoft isn't immune to such troubles, having suffered a major outage of its Teams platform due to an expired certificate earlier this year.
But, there's no reason that network security organizations of any size have to leave this mission-critical function to chance. They can (and should) deploy automated certificate management technology to make sure that no SSL-dependent site or service ever sees a lapse. Such systems can also take care of all X.509 certificates in an organization, meaning they can also manage code signing, IoT, and other device certificates as well.
Automated Access Provisioning
In today's complex hybrid IT environments, access rights management is difficult, at best. Network operators have to keep track of cloud-based system credentials, user rights for file storage and other internal systems, and even remote access to network resources when necessary. Needless to say, it's a complicated undertaking, even when single sign-on (SSO) systems are in use.
To lift some of that burden, businesses should be moving toward automated access provisioning systems. Using the latest technology, it's possible to automate the approval of access requests, create automated workflows to grant access to new users based on integrated user profiles, and even delegate rights to management-level users to add and remove rights for the users under them. With the right system in place, a new hire's onboarding process could include credential creation, the deployment of an iOS or Android VPN client as necessary, and the creation of a cloud desktop with the software they'll need to work. Hours of IT administration work - done transparently and in a flash.
Ready for Anything
By adding these types of solutions to their automation arsenal, IT security specialists can reduce their repetitive-task workload without leaving gaps in their defense posture. That will free them up to mount a more active defense against the growing threat landscape without blowing up their budgets. It's an approach that will become the standard operating procedure for all organizations soon, and early adopters can be safer, more efficient, and resilient against attacks now – before they fall victim to the rising tide of digital assaults on their critical systems.