Definition and Purpose

Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) refers to a set of services and tools that automate cyberattack prevention and response. This automation is accomplished by unifying your integrations, defining how tasks should be run, and developing an incident response plan that suits your organization’s needs.

With the help of SOAR technology, security operation center (SOC) teams that were previously inundated with repetitive and time-consuming tasks are now able to resolve incidents more efficiently, in turn reducing costs, filling coverage gaps, and boosting productivity.

How Does SOAR Work?

SOAR is typically composed of three components that work together to find and stop attacks: orchestration, automation, and incident response.

Orchestration connects internal and external tools, including out-of-the-box and custom integrations, so that they can be accessed from one central place. This allows you to consolidate data and streamline processes, setting the scene for automation.

Automation programs tasks so that they are executed on their own. This is accomplished through playbooks, or collections of workflows that automatically run when triggered by a rule or incident. Playbooks allow you to automate tasks, manage alerts, and create responses to threats and incidents.

Orchestration and automation lay the foundation for AI-powered incident response, resulting in faster, more accurate responses and fewer security issues to remediate.