SOAR & Automation

Deploy Splunk Phantom, Cortex XSOAR. Automated playbooks. Orchestrate tools. Incident response at scale.

AdvancedPhase 3: Password SecurityInteractive Playbooks

What is SOAR?

SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) automates repetitive security tasks, orchestrates tools, and accelerates incident response. Instead of analysts manually investigating every alert, SOAR playbooks execute pre-defined workflows automatically.

Why SOAR?

Speed: Respond to threats in seconds (not hours). Automated blocking, isolation, enrichment
Consistency: Same playbook every time. No human error or missed steps
Scale: Handle 10,000 alerts/day with 3-person SOC team
Analyst Focus: Automate Tier 1 tasks. Let humans focus on complex threats

Popular SOAR Platforms

👻 Splunk Phantom (Now Splunk SOAR)

Visual playbook builder, 350+ app integrations

• Drag-and-drop workflow designer
• Python-based custom actions
• Integrates with Splunk SIEM
• Community playbooks library

🛡️ Palo Alto Cortex XSOAR

Enterprise SOAR with AI-driven automation

• 600+ integrations (market leader)
• War room for collaborative IR
• Machine learning playbook suggestions
• Incident management + SOAR combined

⚡ Swimlane Turbine

Low-code SOAR for rapid automation

• Visual automation builder
• Case management built-in
• Cloud-native architecture
• Good for mid-market orgs

🤖 Microsoft Sentinel (SOAR)

Cloud-native, Azure-integrated

• Logic Apps for playbooks
• Deep Microsoft 365 integration
• Serverless, scales automatically
• Best for Azure-heavy environments

Common SOAR Use Cases

🚨 Phishing Email Response:

1. SIEM detects suspicious email → 2. SOAR pulls email from mailbox → 3. Detonates attachment in sandbox → 4. If malicious: block sender, delete from all inboxes, notify users

🔒 Malware Containment:

1. EDR detects malware → 2. SOAR isolates infected host from network → 3. Kills malicious processes → 4. Collects forensic data (memory dump, disk image) → 5. Creates ticket for analyst

🌐 IOC Enrichment:

1. Firewall sees new suspicious IP → 2. SOAR queries VirusTotal, OTX, WHOIS → 3. Adds context (malware family, country, ASN) → 4. Auto-blocks if critical severity

👤 Account Compromise:

1. Impossible travel detected (login from US + China in 1 hour) → 2. SOAR disables account → 3. Revokes sessions → 4. Notifies user + manager → 5. Forces password reset

Playbook Example: Phishing Response

Trigger:

User reports phishing email via button in Outlook

Extract Indicators:

SOAR pulls sender email, URLs, attachment hashes from email

Enrich with Threat Intel:

Query VirusTotal, URLhaus for reputation. Check if sender domain is spoofed.

Sandbox Detonation:

Send attachment to Cuckoo Sandbox or Joe Sandbox. Analyze behavior.

Decision Point:

If malicious: Delete from all mailboxes, block sender domain, add IOCs to firewall

Notify & Document:

Send Slack alert to SOC, create ticket, email users who received the phish

💡 Without SOAR: 30-60 minutes per phishing report. With SOAR: 90 seconds automated.

SOAR Integrations (Typical Stack)

🔍 SIEM Integration:

Splunk, Elastic, QRadar send alerts to SOAR for automated response

🛡️ EDR/XDR:

CrowdStrike, Carbon Black for host isolation, process kill, forensics

🔥 Firewalls:

Palo Alto, Fortinet for automated IP/domain blocking

📧 Email Gateways:

Proofpoint, Mimecast for email deletion, sender blocking

🔐 IAM/AD:

Active Directory, Okta for account disable, password reset

📊 Ticketing:

ServiceNow, Jira for automated incident tickets

🎯 Threat Intel:

VirusTotal, OTX for IOC enrichment

💬 Notifications:

Slack, Teams, PagerDuty for real-time alerts

Best Practices

Start Simple: Automate one use case (e.g., phishing). Prove ROI before scaling

Human-in-the-Loop: Don't auto-block everything. Require approval for critical actions

Version Control Playbooks: Treat playbooks like code. Git version history

Test in Sandbox: Run playbooks against test data before production

Monitor Playbook Performance: Track execution time, success rate, false positives

Document Everything: Clear playbook descriptions. Future analysts need context

Real-World Impact: SOAR Reduces MTTD by 95%

Large financial institution deployed SOAR for phishing response. Previously handled 500 reports/day manually (30 min each = 250 hours).

Before SOAR:

• ❌ 500 phishing reports/day = 250 analyst hours (31 FTEs)
• ❌ Mean time to respond: 4 hours (backlog)
• ❌ Burnout, missed threats, inconsistent response

After SOAR:

• ✅ 90% of phishing reports auto-resolved (90 seconds avg)
• ✅ 10% escalated to analysts (50 reports/day, 25 hours)
• ✅ Reduced headcount from 31 to 5 FTEs
• ✅ Mean time to respond: 2 minutes

SOAR Automation Platform

Enable playbooks and execute automated incident response workflows.

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Active Playbooks

Executions

Ready

Status

Phishing Response

Trigger: User reports suspicious email

Step 1:Extract email indicators (sender, URLs, hashes)

Step 2:Query VirusTotal for reputation

Step 3:Detonate attachment in sandbox

Step 4:Block sender domain on firewall

Step 5:Delete email from all mailboxes

Step 6:Notify SOC team via Slack

Malware Containment

Trigger: EDR detects malware execution

Step 1:Isolate infected host from network

Step 2:Kill malicious process

Step 3:Collect memory dump for forensics

Step 4:Add file hash to block list

Step 5:Create incident ticket in ServiceNow

Execution Log

No executions yet. Enable a playbook and click Execute.