8 Security Automation Tools Every Organisation Needs In 2024

Security automation tools deliver these benefits by processing data from different parts of an organisation's IT environment and taking action autonomously.

Many security automation tools also use machine learning and AI algorithms to continuously improve their ability to spot potential threats without human intervention.

This capability might seem futuristic, but in 1965, early computer scientist Herbert A. Simon was already predicting that "machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do."

Simon's prediction might have been ahead of its time, but what is true in 2024 is that smart deployment of automated tools is transforming how security processes happen. 

8 Security Automation Tools to Consider In 2024

Automation tools can transform time-consuming, repetitive security tasks, reduce human error and boost a SOC's incident response, threat hunting and threat intelligence efforts.

Core automation tools include:

Security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR)

Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) tools take security log and event data and use it to perform automated functions. 

SOARs can be stand-alone products or "bolt on" to a security team's existing SIEM solution.

SOARs allow security teams to implement automated processes based on the vast volumes of information created by Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions.

For example, if a series of security alerts from an endpoint indicated malicious download activity, a SOAR could automatically block that endpoint from accessing the internet.

Extended detection and response (XDR)

Extended detection and response (XDR) is a connected security solution set offered by some cyber security vendors. 

XDR offerings typically combine a variety of solution types, such as endpoint detection and response (EDR), endpoint protection platform (EPP) and antivirus (AV), into a single platform.

Most XDR solutions offer some degree of automated response and threat management. 

For example, an XDR solution might use AI to optimise threat investigation by pulling together data from different endpoints at the same time.

Vulnerability scanners

A typical organisation can have thousands of connected devices (all running various applications), websites and cloud instances. 

All these devices could host exploitable vulnerabilities (there were over 26,000 CVEs discovered in 2022), which makes vulnerability management essential for reducing security threat risk.

Automated vulnerability scanners can regularly crawl a list of IP addresses and apps to find and identify exploitable vulnerabilities. 

This allows security teams to find and close off internal and internet-facing attack vectors like SQL injection vulnerabilities at a rate that would otherwise be impossible with manual scanning and testing.

Attack surface management

In the last 12 months, almost 70% of organisations reported an expansion of their attack surfaces. Remote work, cloud migrations and trends like DevOps have multiplied the number of known and unknown assets connected to corporate networks.

Understanding and managing this attack surface is one of security teams' biggest challenges. It is also a robust automation use case.

Automated attack surface management tools allow security teams to discover and prioritise their attack surface risks in real-time. 

These kinds of solutions can learn about an organisation's IT environment and plot attack chains into them based on real-world threat actor behaviour.

Security information and event management (SIEM)

Security Information and Event Management solutions (SIEMs) gather, consolidate and assess security-related information from different points across an organisation's IT infrastructure.

SIEMs take data from security logs created by assets and systems such as endpoints and domain controllers. The collected data is then standardised into a standard format that the SIEM can analyse and compare to predetermined rule sets of what is "normal" or suspicious behaviour.

While most SIEMs do not use AI and cannot take actions independently, SIEM solutions can be configured to automate specific tasks based on predefined rules. For example, a security team could configure a SIEM to send an alert when an unusual number of login attempts is detected.

Configuration management

23% of security incidents are a result of misconfigurations.

Automated configuration management helps security teams reduce this risk by aligning assets with a desired configuration within an organisation's IT systems. 

These tools help reduce security issues by keeping software and device settings and formats correctly configured. This reduces the risk of misconfiguration causing a security breach.

The advantage of automated configuration management is that it is far more scalable when it comes to maintaining configuration across different systems compared to manual processes. Automated configuration management also enables a faster response rate to regulatory changes than would otherwise be possible.

Data discovery and classification tools

To avoid fines, reputational damage and the loss of sensitive IP, it's critical to know where sensitive customer and IP data is and whether or not it is securely stored. As regulatory fines increase, data protection and privacy are now a top priority for over half of all organisations.

Automated data discovery and classification tools help solve this problem. 

For example, given access to an organisation's cloud environment, an automatic data discovery and classification tool could tell a security team what S3 buckets host misconfigurations.

SenseOn: self-driving cyber automation platform

Senseon is an automated security solution that uses a single agent to collect high-quality data from across networks, endpoints, servers and cloud environments. It then uses an advanced SOAR-like AI technology to process this information and take actions based on how severe a threat is.

Uniquely, SenseOn can learn about an organisation’s environment over time and automatically filter out false alarms. 

When SenseOn spots threatening behaviour, it sends a detailed "case" to human analysts that helps them investigate the potential threat further. When dangerous activity is detected, SenseOn can also act by itself, dynamically isolating and defeating threats like ransomware.

SenseOn is a single solution that provides the benefits of threat detection and response across an organisation's entire environment.

Gaining the Benefits of Security Automation with SenseOn

SenseOn's consolidated cyber defence combines an AI security system with best-in-class data to deliver automated threat detection and incident response.

This focus on high-quality data is a critical ingredient for security automation because the ability of AI to make decisions depends on the data it receives.

SensOn's universal sensor collects high-quality data in a single unified source from across an organisation’s environment. Then, to make sense of the data collected through its security monitoring tool, SenseOn uses an advanced cloud-based AI engine aligned with the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

This ability allows SenseOn to map what it sees in an organisation’s environment to known and unknown threat behaviour patterns and playbooks and take action accordingly.

Using AI across the detection and response, SenseOn consolidates EDR, network detection and response (NDR), SOAR, and SIEM workflows into a single cybersecurity platform.

As a result, false alarms are filtered out (reducing alert fatigue), suspicious behaviour is escalated to human security analysts, and urgent threats are immediately mitigated.

SenseOn makes automation a routine part of the cybersecurity lifecycle. 

Try a demo of SenseOn today to see how it can bring automation benefits to your security posture.