What Is A SOAR Solution In Cybersecurity? Features, Benefits & Leading Technology

During the first half of 2022, there were 236.1 million cyberattacks worldwide.

In the United States alone, thousands of ransomware attacks occur on a daily basis.

To fight cyber threats, Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) solutions are a must.

SOAR platforms allow you to detect, analyze and respond to security threats and incidents, while reducing the time and resources required for manual threat response.

We’ll explain how SOAR solutions work, share key benefits and introduce you to the Analyst1 platform — the answer to your cybersecurity concerns.

What Is A SOAR Solution? 

A SOAR solution is a set of tools and practices that allow organizations to explore and collect security data from various sources.

SOAR tools are a combination of threat intelligence platforms, Security Incident Response Platforms (SIRP) and Security Orchestration and Automation (SOA).

SOAR software solutions use a single interface, which allows analysts and security teams to speed up their workflow and identify cybersecurity threats faster. SOAR also enables companies to integrate security technologies to faster investigate and efficiently respond to security threats.

SOAR platforms include:

• Security Orchestration: This refers to the ability of a SOAR solution to gather and connect data from various cybersecurity tools, including firewalls, security incident and event management (SIEM) systems and endpoint protection tools. Security orchestration allows organizations to better investigate, understand and manage incidents.
• Automation: SOAR solutions, such as Analyst1, facilitate analysts’ job by automatically performing otherwise manual tasks, such as triaging potential security alerts or creating playbooks, i.e., processes that determine how to respond to specific security threats. This helps analysts save time and allows them to quickly connect the dots, process data, deeper analyze potential threats and come up with and implement security measures.
• Response: SOAR software solutions can help organizations tackle cyber threats, respond to incidents in a specific way and implement appropriate recovery actions.

Other common features of SOAR platforms include:

• Incident management: SOAR solutions include tools such as ticket creation and status updates on an incident, which allows analysts to track and appropriately respond to potential threats.
• Security analytics: Some SOAR solutions feature options for analyzing data and creating reports about cyber threats. Such tools include dashboards and various visualization tools.
• Threat intelligence: Platforms like Analyst1 pack threat intelligence elements that enable automated responses to cyber incidents, allowing organizations to handle cyber threats faster and better protect networks.

Aside from SOAR, there is another type of security software called Security Information and Event Management (SIEM). The two often get confused even though they perform different functions.

SOAR vs. SIEM: What’s The Difference? 

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) is a software that is often used as part of a cybersecurity network.

While SOAR integrates with a variety of tools and is focused on automating the process of responding to threats, SIEM focuses on aggregating and analyzing data within an organization’s network.

SIEM provides a real-time overview of a network, but if or when simultaneous attacks occur, SIEM may not be able to process all cyber threats.

That’s why SOAR solutions are paramount to cybersecurity.

Since SOAR platforms automate incident response, that means they can help eliminate the threat fatigue that SIEM can experience. That gives security teams time to appropriately address all critical threats.

A lot of platforms, such as Analyst1, allow for the combination of SOAR and SIEM software solutions, further increasing an organization’s resilience against cyber threats.

How Does SOAR Security Work? 

SOAR security includes six key components:

1. Monitoring: This is the initial stage when SOAR systems use sensors and tools to monitor data sources and look for potential cybersecurity threats.
2. Detection: If a SOAR platform detects a threat, it then relies on techniques such as human defined playbooks, along with machine learning algorithms to decide whether the threat requires further action.
3. Triage: If the SOAR product determines a threat is genuine from a human defined playbook and/or an algorithm, it proceeds to triage the alert. SOAR gathers additional information about the threat, which helps the platform launch the appropriate response.
4. Response: Depending on the type of threat detected, the SOAR platform can automatically block and/or make a recommendation based on the previously defined action, by preventing it from accessing an organization’s network. SOAR can also quarantine files on its own, or, if needed, alert security teams about threats that may require deeper investigation.
5. Automation: One of the greatest benefits of using a SOAR platform, triaging and response initiation are automated, increasing the efficiency of cyber security.
6. Review: Once SOAR launches a pre-defined action against a threat, the platform can then review the response to ensure it’s effective. If necessary, it will make changes to better tackle the threat.

What Are The Benefits Of SOAR Tools? 

As cybercrime rates continue to grow, companies are paying an average of $200,000 per attack. SOAR tools provide numerous benefits, from allowing organizations to minimize the chances of cyberattacks and reducing the risk of downtime or security breaches that can lead to both reputation damage and financial loss.

Given the volume of cyber threats, a security analyst’s job can easily become time-consuming and overwhelming, opening up space for human error.

With a SOAR solution, you can set up a quick and automated cybersecurity plan that runs around the clock.

Your security team can create playbooks and set up workflows for the most common cyber threat cases, meaning they can automate processes they would otherwise have to complete manually.

In addition to improving efficiency, even less-experienced teams can use these workflows as the building blocks for creating new workflow orchestrations.

SOAR software connects data from different intelligence and security tools, so teams no longer have to struggle with handling multiple resources at once. Instead, everything is displayed in a single console, which ensures better threat visibility.

SOAR solutions use machine learning algorithms and are flexible, which means they can adapt to the changes regarding the six components listed above, depending on your organization’s needs. SOAR tools continuously improve, ensuring protection against cybercrime.

Security teams, analysts and stakeholders can also use SOAR solutions to collaborate. For example, these parties might come together to determine how to improve workflows and speed up threat response times.

Last but not least, a SOAR platform helps organizations with cost savings. Because many key processes are automated, there is less risk of human error, which increases accuracy and also helps reduce labor costs.

Meet Analyst1: A Leading SOAR Solution

Analyst1 is a platform built by analysts, for analysts. The same cybersecurity analysts that defend government networks and engineers that created cyber capabilities for the U.S. Department of Defense designed a solution that allows Security Operation Centers (SOCs) to detect, prioritize and respond to all types of threats.

Thanks in part because it was developed by experts who understand where the greatest cybersecurity loopholes are, Analyst1 is the leading solution for organizations of all sizes and across industries.

With built-in threat intelligence features, the platform’s capabilities allow you to supervise machine learning and natural language processing, so you can set up automated cyber defense.

The smart A1 Bot within Analyst1 automates the process of gathering and connecting data from multiple sources, then presents this data to your cybersecurity team in a single console.

Automation makes your cybercrime analysts more effective but also more efficient in identifying, gathering, triaging and responding to threats.

Analyst1 allows you to create and test specific security measures before you deploy them. The platform also allows you to automate the creation of threat actor and malware profiles and identify system vulnerabilities that threat actors may exploit.

With Analyst1, you can identify the scope of every threat, which helps you formulate appropriate actions.

The platform further enables you to author, test and deploy measures across all prevention systems.

See Analyst1 in action:

Wrapping Up On SOAR Solutions

A SOAR solution is a critical component of the modern cybersecurity landscape for a number of reasons:

• SOAR solutions help streamline the process cybersecurity by integrating various processes that detect, analyze and respond to threats. By having data from multiple sources in one place, cyber security teams become faster and more effective in terms of eliminating threats.
• Some SOAR platforms, such as Analyst 1, are automated, meaning there’s no need to perform tasks manually; the platform responds to incidents and reduces the time needed to tackle all types of cyber threats. Since SOAR eliminates many manual tasks, it reduces the workload and allows cyber security teams to deeper investigate specific threats.

Created by analysts, for analysts, Analyst1 is a leading SOAR platform for cybersecurity across industries.

The software allows you to automate data detection, gathering, analyzing and threat response, helping you respond to potential cyber threats quickly and adequately, to keep your company’s data safe and secure.