How Leading Security Teams Fight Ransomware Burnout with Automation

Few topics spark conversation like security automation. Automation is the entire premise around programming; routines and repetitive patterns are tasked to computers while humans work only on higher priorities. For security practitioners, this is essential because even a small network can have thousands of endpoints that need protecting while the security staff is miniscule. Yet the challenge facing organizations in 2022 is how to automate, not just the collation and data collection tasks where machines excel, but to automate the repetitive human decisions made daily to defend an enterprise.

Join us for a three part blog series on automation and for a webinar on February 22nd titled, "Fight Ransomware Robots With Automation Intelligence".

The global pandemic uprooted stagnant business conventions and relationships. Long standing policies around working from home were rewritten or scrapped completely; and a new reality emerged that work got brought home, home became work, and security boundaries were thrown away in light of business necessities. 

Threat actors took notice. Ransomware gangs soared into the new home-work merger and wreaked havoc. IT security staff were left caught between the tsunami of attacks and new stresses of working from home while securing remotely connected systems. Already frazzled by years of underfunding and constraints, the levee broke. Burnout quickly turned into lost productivity and perpetual turnover as IT security personnel were not immune to the Great Resignation of 2021. 

Today’s security leaders face a dual challenge. On one hand they need to defend their networks from ever-increasing threats. On the other they need to hold onto their talent in the tightest employment market most have ever seen. Many executives are pinning their hopes on automation to tackle both challenges at once. Automation has a significant ethereal benefit to security programs – combating burnout. Focusing on this human element can help prioritize what to automate, how to invest, and where intelligence can help you. 

Automation frees up security analysts stuck working on phishing and leaked credentials, allowing them to add greater value to the organization while escaping the endless burnout and turnover plaguing many organizations.

Automating detection for initial access enables analysts to hunt for more evasive malware, like access brokers leveraging Trickbot or actors like FIN7, the group behind Darkside and Blackmatter ransomware. However, this initial access automation requires fast, high fidelity intelligence in order to function well. 

Ultimately, the market for security automation-specific tools seemed aligned to be consumed by the ever-growing SIEM market. Some evidence towards this fate was provided by the acquisitions of Phantom and Demisto, two of the market leaders in SOAR technologies, in 2018 and 2019 respectively. And maybe that would have been the end for the fever-dream of security automation if it weren’t for the one-two punch security teams and the world never saw coming.

Join us for a webinar on February 22nd titled, "Fight Ransomware Robots With Automation Intelligence" to learn more about how automation can assist your organization.