Automation and Microsoft Sentinel: an introduction - SteadFast Solutions (2024)

Automation has become an increasingly important part of the business landscape. Forbes states automation is “redefining the workplace” by optimising processes, rather than having employees waste hours on tasks that bog down efficiency.

Although automation has been around for decades, it has become increasingly important in recent years due to the growing complexity of businesses and their operating environments. Automation can be used in many different areas, from marketing to cyber security.

One of the most comprehensive cyber security tools is Microsoft Sentinel, which leverages the power of automation in a variety of situations with its comprehensive suite of features.

Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-based Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) solution that provides visibility into security threats and automates security tasks to help organisations identify and mitigate potential threats before they become a reality. Sentinel’s comprehensive suite of integrated capabilities enables organisations to respond quickly to incidents, mitigate malicious activity, and meet compliance regulations.

Microsoft Sentinel is a great tool for businesses that want to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to their cyber security posture. With its automation capabilities, it can help organisations become more proactive in their security efforts and reduce the amount of time and effort required to respond to threats.

Automation is the process of designing systems, processes, and workflows that can run without any human intervention. Also referred to as “rule-based systems,” these systems will execute based on a set of specified rules and conditions, without requiring any further direction or action from human beings.

In cyber security, automation can help to detect and respond to threats more quickly and accurately. It is also used for tasks like vulnerability scanning and patching, which can help to reduce the risk of a security breach. Automation can also be used to reduce the time it takes to respond to incidents, as well as to detect and prevent insider threats and malicious activity.

Microsoft Sentinel’s Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) capabilities offer a comprehensive approach to security. SOAR enables organisations to automate threat response processes, such as incident detection, investigation, and remediation, as well as other security tasks, such as security policy creation and compliance monitoring. This can be accomplished through the use of orchestration playbooks, which are a type of Microsoft Azure Automation runbook that contain instructions and guidelines for automating security tasks and processes.

Sentinel’s SOAR capabilities offer a comprehensive approach to security. SOAR enables organisations to automate threat response processes, such as incident detection, investigation, and remediation, as well as other security tasks, such as security policy creation and compliance monitoring.

Automation is one of Sentinel’s key strengths. Its automation capabilities can help organisations become more proactive in their security efforts and reduce the amount of time and effort required to respond to threats. Businesses can use Sentinel to detect and respond to threats by creating automation rules, which specify actions and conditions to follow in response to security events.

Sentinel’s automation capabilities allow it to:

• Detect security issues and automatically take action based on those events.
• Automate compliance monitoring and reporting, including gathering data, assessing the data, and generating reports.
• Create security policies and baselines using Microsoft Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Azure.
• Automate the deployment of security tools and technologies, including SIEM tools, and threat detection and response solutions.
• Using APIs to integrate Sentinel’s capabilities with other technologies and security solutions, such as third-party security solutions and existing security infrastructure.

Playbooks are a type of Microsoft Azure Automation runbook that can be used to automate threat response processes and other security tasks. To create a playbook for a threat response process, select the Automation tab in the Microsoft Sentinel console, and then click the Create Automation Rule button.

Once you’ve selected the rule type, select the Playbook option and then click the Next button. Select the playbook you would like to use from the drop-down menu, and then click the Next button. Select the playbook rule type you would like to use and then click the Next button. Type a name and a description for the rule and click the Create button. Now that you’ve created your rule, the next step is to assign it to the relevant security events.

Sentinel’s automation rules allow you to define and co-ordinate the rules that can apply across different scenarios, such as:

• Add incident tasks for analysts to follow.
• Suppress noisy incidents.
• Manage new incidents by changing the status from “New” to “Active”, and assigning someone.
• Classify incidents by tagging them.
• Assign someone to an incident to escalate it.
• Close resolved incidents with a reason specified.

By taking advantage of Microsoft Sentinel’s automated incident handling, you can protect your organisation from threats and free up time for your team to focus on other important tasks.

The Microsoft Sentinel specialists at Steadfast Solutions can help you automate certain tasks and threat responses within your Sentinel solution that will increase its effectiveness and boost your security posture. Talk to them today to learn more.