Organizations can easily integrate automation tools into their system to improve their cyber security defenses and reduce cyber breaches. It also increases worker productivity because fewer people are needed to monitor the network security system and other information security related activities. By incorporating automation into your business’ workflow, business operations run more efficiently.
What is Automation?
Automation is the technique of automatically enabling an instrument or system to work. It also refers to the process of production of goods automatically by using controlled systems, robots, and other devices with a limited direct human deployment. It increases worker productivity in manufacturing industries because fewer people are required to produce the same amount of manufactured products.
However, a drawback to automation is that it results in job replacements for workers in the traditional field of work – especially “blue-collar” production jobs. Despite this drawback, many different industries now use automation technology and incorporate it into their workflow.
Importance of Automation
Think of the mobile phone and computer that you use to do various tasks throughout the day. Think of the appliances you use – like dishwashers, washing machines, or stovetops. All modern appliances are the product of complex processes behind it. These complex processes are put together by individuals who plan, create, and uphold the product’s systems. Without the expertise of these individuals, these advancements in technology would have never been possible.
Mobile phones would remain as landline phones. Computers would remain as books and paper. Instead of using a dishwasher or washing machine, you would wash your dishes and clothes by hand. Rather than cooking over an electrical stovetop, you would watch and kindle a fire to cook over. Without automation experts, the world and future would be extremely different, and everything would need to be done by hand. Everyone would need to complete multiple steps to finish a task.
In the digital world, automation involves cybersecurity, robotics, sensors, system integration, and so on. Automation in companies include email systems that automatically send replies or marketing emails or customer relationship management (CRM) applications that automatically keeps track of client information. Automation increases efficiency and productivity by reducing the amount of time spent on tasks like sending countless marketing emails or organizing client and consumer information.
Integrating Cyber Security Automation
Businesses constantly look for ways on how to increase productivity and revenue growth within the organization. This ranges from general administrative processes to cybersecurity. By now, many organizations have already integrated automation tools and cybersecurity automation in their processes because of how it makes the business run more efficiently.
Cybersecurity automation streamlines your business by monitoring your network security strength. It also provides a security roadmap and strategy, which improves your network security. Here area few ways automation improves your organization’s cybersecurity.
1. Decreases Human Error
As businesses move ahead with more advanced technological transformations, organizations create more surfaces for corporate spies to target and/or attack. In the past, most organizations inspect data in the system manually to find any unusual behavior or for an indicator of a defect. However, this is a drawback for organizations in modern times because it takes more time. Cybersecurity automation covers and fixes this obstacle of lacking time.
According to the 2019 Cost of Data Breach Report by the Ponemon Institute, human error causes 24% of data breaches. Human error is inevitable when inspecting a large amount of information. However, because of these mistakes, loopholes form in the organization’s security system, and cyber threats penetrate and attack the organization’s network.
However, cybersecurity automation tools prevent these human errors from occurring. It sorts through all the data concerning an organization’s security network, and processes all the information necessary to keep the system safe.
2. Observes Network Security
Cybersecurity automation tools keeps the network safe by constantly watching over the security system. It compiles alerts and information on the cyber network, indicating when there is a potential breach to the system. Automation provides a 360-degree view of your system and catches infiltration in places humans might miss.
Automation watches the system 24/7, so it creates an alert when there is unauthorized or suspicious activity. For example, if a cyberhacker in Russia tries to login to an US-based system, the automated cybersecurity tool will see the attempted access. From there, the automated tool will prevent the cyberhacker from accessing the organization’s data until there is real-person verification from a trusted source – in this case, a US-based employee with enough security clearance.
3. Collects and Analyzes Data
While observing the system, automated tools also collect data. Organizations collect data and information relevant to their industry to increase productivity and efficiency in the business process. However, the data will only benefit to the company when it is collected in structured, measurable steps.
In cybersecurity, the security company must collect data both within their own system as well as security threats outside their infrastructure. With so much information, it is nearly impossible for a human to collect so much data in a short timeframe. Pulling data and information together quickly is crucial in the cyber landscape because networks connected to the internet are attacked every 39 seconds.
After collecting the data, the company must identify potential threats based on the data to anticipate the attacker’s next step. Again, with so much information, automated tools are far more convenient and efficient. It also minimizes the risk of human error while enhancing he safety of the data recorded. With machine learning technology, collecting and sequencing security data allows companies to understand and utilize the cybersecurity steps faster and more accurately.
4. Protects Against Attacks
After identifying a threat, automated systems send protection programs quickly before an attack on the system causes significant harm to the organization. Automated systems analyze and predict the next step of the attack. Stopping an attack on its predicted next step is the best place to stop it because this prevents the attack from damaging the organization’s system.
Automation carries out the process of building protection for different security systems quickly. It does this while keeping pace with the cyber threat and attack. This is unlike with manual cyber defenses where the protection for different security systems is lengthy, slow, and complex. Furthermore, unlike automated cyber protection, manual cyber defense is a difficult process that strains the organization’s resources – the people. After all, the person defending against the cyber attack could be working on another project that improves the organization’s business process.
Cybersecurity automation uses the information it gathers about the security system to create suggestions on how to improve network security. These actionable steps help security professionals fix the loopholes in the system more quickly. Additionally, it also automatically addresses the threats and anticipates the attack’s next steps.
5. Identifies an Infected Host in the System
Monitoring an attack after it enters a system is important. By following the attack, you can stop the attack before it causes your organization to lose data and information. To keep track of it, it is important to move faster than the attack itself. After finding an infected host or any disruptive behavior in the system, it is crucial to constantly monitor and check the data. Find a variety of common behaviors that indicate a host has been infected in the system.
As mentioned before, human error is common when defending against an attack. This is also the case when identifying an infected host. Once again, automation allows organizations to avoid the human error. It consistently tracks and detects the cyberattack, providing a quick and nearly instant analysis of the infected host. This allows companies to combat against the threat and attack as soon as possible, thus minimizing the damage that the attack could have caused. By minimizing the damage, the organization also saves millions of dollars that would have been used to remedy the damage made by the cyberattack.
6. Sorts Through False Alerts
A network security monitoring tool generates thousands of alerts on an average day. As such, it is nearly impossible for humans to sit and analyze and act on these alerts one-by-one. Furthermore, many of the alerts generated are “false positives” – in other words, an alert that displays a file as malicious when it is not. For example, someone in your organization might have forgotten their password. As a result, they attempt to login 3 or more times, which is then flagged as a suspicious activity.
Intrusion detection system (IDS) and intrusion protection system (IPS) automation tools can detect these false positives and complete the security monitoring and control more efficiently. With IDS/IPS tools, organizations do not need to use an excessive amount of time or effort to look and sort through false alerts. Also in this case, automation increases worker’s productivity because it saves time and allows workers to focus on other tasks outside of the cybersecurity system.
7. Streamline Manual Processes
Manually mapping multiple cybersecurity frameworks against the existing and future posture of an organization and building out an action plan is a resource intensive and time-consuming effort. But automation can easily help streamline this and provide very comprehensive analysis and reports in a short time. Organizations can also leverage automated solutions to assess their third-party vendors to make sure that their follow cyber hygiene.
Investment in Automation
Both large and small businesses are starting to invest in automation – both for regular business processes and cybersecurity. However, cyber criminals and attackers also use automation to move faster and spread more attacks at rapid speed. Therefore, more corporations need to integrate automation as part of their cybersecurity. Organizations should invest in cybersecurity automation because it:
- Increases labor productivity and throughput.
- Improves product quality and work consistency.
- Improves chances of output.
- Tracks cyber threats and attacks.
- Sequences collection of data.
- Reduces extensive labor.
- Increases network security.
Automation takes production and manufacturing to a higher level, increasing efficiency and profitability with the data collected. So far, many organizations have invested in automated machines which perform mundane, repetitive tasks such as collecting data. With automation, companies no longer worry about human error, which has given more time for cybersecurity teams to improve other problems and complex tasks.
Streamline Your Business Processes with Automation
With the advancement of technology, automation allows organizations to streamline their business process more efficiently. Additionally, because of all the technological advancements, automation tools are necessary to better protect the data and information saved in a company’s system. Automation provides comprehensive analysis and reports, which saves the time and resources that would have been used on the company’s cybersecurity framework and strategy.
Additionally, cyber criminals have also started using malicious automated tools, so your organization must combat these cyberattacks with better automated cybersecurity tools. Overall, automation has become a fundamental component for organization’s cybersecurity, and it will continue to create better opportunities in the changing economy.
If you found this blog useful, please share with others:
