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Cybersecurity experts place humans as the weakest link in implementing a cybersecurity plan. Cybercriminals are constantly exploiting human errors and inefficiency to carry out cyber-attacks, including social engineering, spear-phishing, email phishing, etc. Human error contributed to about 85% of cybersecurity breaches in 2021.
Many organizations have embraced cybersecurity automation to tighten cybersecurity measures and reduce human errors.
But what is cybersecurity automation? How does it work? How does it benefit organizations, and what are its limitations? Find answers to these questions as we explore the world of cybersecurity automation.
What is Cybersecurity Automation?
Cybersecurity automation is a cybersecurity technology that eliminates or reduces human participation in providing security to systems. Cybersecurity automation uses artificial intelligence technology to detect a potential threat and investigate and remediate the threats with little or no human intervention.
Cybersecurity automation prioritizes threat alerts and decides on the most effective strategy to eliminate critical threats. There are different tools organizations can use in automating their systems’ cybersecurity defense systems. Some popular cybersecurity automation tools include Robotic Process Automation, Security Orchestration Automation, and Response, the eXtended Detection and Response, etc.
How Does Cybersecurity Work?
Cybersecurity automation utilizes machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies to secure systems. These highly advanced technologies can analyze several millions of events, and within a short period, they can identify all types of threats to an organization’s system.
Cybersecurity automation identifies vulnerabilities and other risky behaviors that may expose system to phishing attacks. Over time, AI and Machine learning technologies will predict new attack types using past data.
With behavior histories, the system algorithm can help create networks, assets, and user profiles that detect, analyze, and react to deviations from normal security protocol.
What are The Pros and Cons of Cybersecurity Automation?
Cybersecurity automation offers several benefits to organizations. However, like every technology, there are some limitations. Here are the pros and cons of cybersecurity automation:
Benefits of Cybersecurity Automation
Reduction of cybercrime incidence
One sure way to guarantee the reduction of phishing and other incidents is to implement cybersecurity automation technology. It helps in eliminating or managing any form of incidence. If the system technology architecture is complex, it may be more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. However, with cybersecurity automation, an organization can secure its systems better, irrespective of the complexity.
Excellent accuracy
Cybersecurity automation also helps to prevent attacks caused by human error by providing high consistency and increased adherence to security protocols. With cybersecurity, there is little or no room for mistakes. Expert have revealed that human firewall configurations are more prone to security breaches, unlike the security provided by automated security technology.
It encourages quicker identification and response to threats
The implementation of cybersecurity automation encourages a fast response to threats. It is quick to identify potential danger and acts to remove the threat without waiting for human authorization.
Cybersecurity automation cautiously handles sensitive information.
Organizations that deal with large amounts of sensitive data need to install automated cybersecurity technologies for optimal data protection. Leaving delicate data solely to human control may be a risk an organization may be unwilling to undertake.
It reduces redundancy
Most security professionals carry out the same tasks and spend about half of their time executing these repetitive tasks, including incident management, release management, and asset tracking. With an automated cybersecurity system, job redundancy can be reduced. Security teams can focus on executing other tasks, which increases their efficiency.
Limitations Of Cybersecurity
While using automated cybersecurity defenses may be a great way to protect organization’s systems, it still has its limitations. Here are some of the cons of cybersecurity automation:
Datasets poisoning
Automated cybersecurity defenses can poison an organization’s datasets. Threat actors may be used to manipulate automated cyber defense systems. Some organizations may find it difficult to know if the system has been breached. Automated systems are also more susceptible to dataset tainting, which could cause the machine learning algorithms to provide the wrong prediction.
Expectations may be unrealistic.
Cybersecurity automaton is hailed as the mother of all cybersecurity defense technology, with high expectations. However, that may be a challenge as most people believe that nothing can go wrong by using cybersecurity automation. The sad truth is that automated systems have their limitations. Its complexity may be challenging for many organizations to adopt.
Lack of understanding of automated cybersecurity defense systems
Implementing cybersecurity automation requires an excellent understanding of how the system operates. However, there are insufficient trained automated cybersecurity system experts, which may pose a problem for most organizations.
Fear of job loss
Most people believe automated cybersecurity systems are designed to take over Business professionals' jobs, which may reduce employees' morals and productivity. There may be fewer incentives for training and hiring security teams, which may affect the company's security structures.
Final Thoughts
Cybersecurity automation offers fast and secure protection of systems from cyber-attacks. Although it may have its limitations, these challenges can be overcome with proper management, planning, and usage of automated cybersecurity systems. Rather than replacing Security teams with machine learning algorithms, Business professionals should be trained to understand and effectively manage automated cybersecurity defense systems for optimal performance.
