Cyber Defense eMagazine January 2021 Edition

Automation of security processes and SecOps becomes the norm—This has also been a long time
coming, but the security field has reached a point where manual processes will no longer suffice. There
is just too much going on, too many threats to mitigate, too many alerts to handle. Instead, solutions like
Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) will become “must haves” in the Security
Operations Center (SOC). SOAR solutions use automated “playbooks” to handle threats at a speed that
people cannot possibly match by hand.
Multiple security and related systems become more deeply integrated—The need to integrate the
different elements of a security program will become more pressing in 2021. This goes along with
automation. As security incident response becomes automated, it will make sense to eliminate manual
handoffs between the systems that power the response, e.g., the SOAR solution will connect with the IT
ticketing system via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for generating and assigning tasks.
Security moves a lot faster—Security processes, along with the systems that support them, will start to
move a lot faster in 2021. This might take the form of increased automated system updates versus
manual re-installs, to name just one possible example. Automation also naturally moves processes along
at a far faster clip than was previously possible.
Security partners more closely with other corporate groups—Security, as well as its close cousin,
compliance, will require more collaboration between multiple groups inside an organization. With privacy,
for example, there will likely be much closer coordination between legal teams and engineering. For
example, to ensure the “right to be forgotten” under GDPR and CCPA, the legal team has to have a
thorough understanding of how the consumer’s rights will be honored through technology. To get it right,
everyone is going to have to learn to speak across organizational boundaries.
In general, I think 2021 is going to be a year when the dialogue between vendors and buyers starts to
become more holistic and productive. The cloud computing trend, as well as the growth of DevSecOps
and SOAR, are leading to a situation where the old “My solution is better than their solution” argument
just really falls flat. We are hearing this in so many ways on the site. Buyers no longer care so much if a
solution is 99% effective versus a competitor that is 98%. Good security managers want to understand
how a solution will work in context, for a particular business use case.
One thing is for sure: It’s going to be an interesting year. Let’s all stay safe.
About the Author
Stuart Berman, IT Central Station Super User
Cyber Defense eMagazine – January 2021 Edition 134
Copyright © 2021, Cyber Defense Magazine. All rights reserved worldwide.