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Once a “normal” is established, analysts can catch suspicious activities that stray from the established settings to drive decision-making around what to discard or pursue further. By setting parameters for normalcy, these initiatives enable consistent monitoring and will flag activities outside established boundaries. The sheer speed and pattern recognition capabilities of automation and AI helps SOC operations establish a baseline for security activity and then track against it. Leveraging the Benefits of AI, Automation and ML Across SOCs
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Automating lower-skilled SOC tasks that were often the work of less qualified or less experienced analysts protects the time of the security team and enables them to focus on the higher-skilled, higher-value tasks that protect the enterprise. This ML-generated signature can then drive detection and alert the analysts to run an investigation.Īnother critical area these technologies are being leveraged is through the collection and processing of mountains of security data required to uncover and verify anomalous activities as real threats, finding the proverbial needle in but in a stack of needles. On their own, an IOC may not pose a threat, but the sum of multiple related IOCs would warrant cause for a deeper investigation.Īutomation and ML can also be incorporated into technology platforms to predict how malware will evolve and thus, can create a unique signature against malware that wouldn’t normally exist. With attacks like this, threat intelligence initiatives serve as guides to writing these tools that can detect bad actors (i.e., keystrokes, mouse movements, etc.) and inform security analysts on how best to establish indicators of compromise (IOCs) to monitor for them. Take, for example, attacks involving credential stuffing, in which cybercriminals use stolen usernames and passwords to try to access multiple accounts elsewhere. Essentially, where bad actors are using automation, we can, in turn, also use automation against them. Automated enrichment that puts all relevant information in front of the analyst must pull from various knowledge bases and research resources to enable analysts to understand the battlespace they are operating in and make informed decisions.Īlready, several areas across the security landscape are experiencing success from automation, ML and AI initiatives. As an industry, we shouldn’t focus on how AI, ML and automation can replace security analysts, but rather how they can be used to augment (and expedite) informed decision making against complex attacks and then drive response actions selected by an analyst who understands what the attacker is trying to achieve and how he is most likely trying to achieve it. The best chance to counter the unpredictable behavior of a cybercriminal is through human security analysts who can think and act as they do to even the playing field. For example, the most sophisticated endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution stands little chance against an employee who is socially engineered to give out an administrative password. The human mind is far too clever and can use abstract thinking to bypass defenses and penetrate a target network that technology tools simply cannot discern. Automation, AI and ML will likely never entirely replace the need for human decision-making in security operations.
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It’s a common misconception that more technology means less need for people. The Established Need for Human Decision Making But, the path to success requires focused and effective automation technologies like AI and machine learning (ML) to supercharge the expertise and experience of an equally innovative and warm-bodied defender working as part of an enterprise security operations center (SOC) and outsourced services like managed detection and response (MDR). Today, it is both common and accurate to point out that warm-bodied, innovative human adversaries will invariably defeat a technology-based defense. While security operations have made good progress here, especially in the last four years, there is still a long way to go. Annual Innovations, Technology, & Services ReportĪcross a variety of industries, the adoption of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives has meant less of a burden and more opportunity for many employees and businesses alike.Top Guard and Security Officer Companies.