How can you incorporate automation into your cybersecurity practices? We asked 6 cybersecurity experts to share their experiences with automation and how it has improved efficiency or effectiveness. Here are the cutting-edge automation techniques they suggested.
- Drawing From Managing LinkedIn’s Security Pipeline
- Integrate Automation Into All Aspects
- Leveraging Stellar Cyber’s Open XDR Capabilities
- Real-Time Monitoring And Alerting Systems
- Automated Threat Detection And Response System
- Integrate AI Across Various Facets
How Cybersecurity Automation Delivers Real-World Benefits
Drawing From Managing LinkedIn’s Security Pipeline
I discovered that behavior-based detection models outperform traditional rule-based systems by 842% in catching zero-day threats.
Let me share something counterintuitive from my engineering trenches: most companies over-automate their security responses. Instead, I’ve found that selective automation with clear human decision points reduces false positives by 94%.
Here’s a real example that transformed our approach: We built what I call an “intelligent triage system” that automatically handles routine alerts but escalates anything showing novel behavior patterns. The system analyzes about 890M daily authentication attempts and automatically blocks obvious threats while flagging suspicious patterns for human review. When we detected an emerging credential stuffing attack last month, the system automatically implemented progressive rate limiting while alerting our security team with full context. Mean time to detection dropped from 4.2 hours to 8.3 minutes.
From my systems perspective, good security automation is like a well-designed circuit breaker—it should fail safely and provide clear visibility. I’ve learned that automating the data collection and initial response while keeping humans in the loop for novel threats gives us the best balance of speed and accuracy. Happy to share our architecture patterns if you’re interested.
Harman Singh
Senior Software Engineer, StudioLabs
Integrate Automation Into All Aspects
We strive to integrate automation into all aspects of our work, except for decision-making. This is not because large language models (LLMs) cannot be used when generating ideas, but because it is more effective to collaborate with them.
A clear example of this is an automated reconnaissance tool we have developed. Given a domain or IP address, it lists all associated assets, technologies, individuals, and emails. These are then combined into a package that we use to inform people about their exposure, as well as to guide further assessments such as penetration testing of these assets. There is nothing more powerful than knowing your adversary, especially when it comes to attack simulation and red teaming.
Callum Duncan
CTO, Sencode
Leveraging Stellar Cyber’s Open XDR Capabilities
One recent initiative centered on leveraging Stellar Cyber’s open XDR capabilities to streamline our threat detection and response. We integrated Stellar Cyber with our existing Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution to enhance how alerts are processed, correlated, and acted upon. In our previous setup, analysts had to manually review and triage every incoming alert, which could lead to bottlenecks whenever we faced a high volume of suspicious activities—such as during phishing campaigns or distributed denial-of-service attempts.
By building automated playbooks within Stellar Cyber, we now have a system that quickly identifies, classifies, and investigates potential threats. For instance, when an alert indicates unusual behavior—like repeated failed login attempts or a sudden spike in outbound connections to dubious domains-the platform automatically gathers contextual data (IP addresses, geolocation, user IDs) and checks it against known malicious indicators. If the threat meets a certain threshold, Stellar Cyber notifies the on-call security engineer, quarantines the affected endpoint, and initiates a preliminary investigation without waiting for manual intervention.
This automation has significantly reduced both our mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR), transforming what used to be a multi-hour manual process into one that can be resolved in minutes. Analysts no longer waste time sifting through logs just to confirm whether an alert merits urgent attention—the platform handles much of that groundwork. Consequently, our team can focus on more in-depth threat hunting, root-cause analysis, and strategic improvements to our security posture.
We’ve also expanded automation into our vulnerability management process. Our scanner runs on a daily schedule, pinpoints missing patches or misconfigurations, and automatically creates tickets in our IT service management system. This ensures critical vulnerabilities are addressed swiftly, reducing the risk of oversight or human error.
Overall, implementing Stellar Cyber as our open XDR platform has elevated both efficiency and effectiveness in our cybersecurity operations. By automating routine tasks, we can devote our energy to high-level investigations and proactive security measures. This shift has not only accelerated incident response times but also given us the agility needed to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats.
Adrian Ghira
Managing Partner & CEO, GAM Tech
Real-Time Monitoring And Alerting Systems
We’ve seamlessly integrated automation into our cybersecurity practices through real-time monitoring and alerting systems. Leveraging cutting-edge DevSecOps principles, we utilize continuous integration and deployment pipelines that include automated security testing and vulnerability scans. This not only enables us to detect unauthorized changes instantly but also ensures compliance with industry standards like NIST SP 800-218 and EO 14028.
By automating these processes, we’ve significantly reduced human error and shortened response times, allowing our teams to focus on strategic improvements rather than manual checks. The result? An improvement in operational efficiency and a strengthened ability to thwart both known and unknown threats before they impact production.
Brian Gallagher
CEO, CodeLock
Automated Threat Detection And Response System
Incorporating automation into cybersecurity practices has been a great advantage in enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. In one instance, I implemented an automated threat detection and response system using Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools integrated with machine learning algorithms. We used this system to monitor network activity continuously, flag unusual patterns, and trigger predefined responses to mitigate potential threats in real-time. Our automation task reduced the reliance on manual processes, making our cybersecurity team focus on strategic tasks rather than being bogged down by repetitive monitoring, enhancing their control and confidence.
The impact was significant. The automated system reduced threat detection time by over 60%, enabling quicker responses to potential breaches. It also lowered false positives, efficiently allocating resources to genuine threats. Most importantly, automation integration significantly enhanced compliance reporting by generating real-time audit logs, which streamlined regulatory requirements. This not only fortified the organization’s cybersecurity posture but also made the team feel more secure and in line with regulations.
Aslam Jeelani Mohammed
Senior Technical Content Writer, Web Synergies
Integrate AI Across Various Facets
We integrate AI across various facets of our operations, from producing a multitude of tutorial videos monthly. These videos greatly help our customers and MSPs enhance their understanding of our products. Within our partnership module called PartnerShield, we leverage AI to equip MSPs with tools such as an AI-driven assistant for swift report generation and sophisticated natural language interface for in-depth data queries.
The utilization of AI extends to advanced threat detection, streamlining incident response, enhancing scalability, and bolstering efficiency in safeguarding against cyber threats. Our ShieldScout offers comprehensive threat intelligence, predictive analytics, continuous monitoring, and proactive threat management to fortify cybersecurity measures effectively around the clock.
Sanjaya Kumar
CEO, SureShield
