What Is SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation and Response)?

What Is SOAR?

SOAR stands for Security Orchestration, Automation and Response. It refers to a security operations solution that connects alerts and data from multiple security solutions, standardizes investigation procedures, and automates repetitive response tasks.

Security teams review a large number of alerts every day. The challenge is not only the volume of alerts. Analysts also need to determine whether each alert indicates a real compromise, a false positive, or a low-risk event. In this process, analysts classify alerts, review related logs, check threat intelligence, create tickets, notify the right people, and, when necessary, take actions such as endpoint isolation.

SOAR organizes these repetitive tasks into a defined response process. It supports investigation and response based on predefined conditions and procedures, so analysts do not have to repeat the same steps manually each time. In other words, SOAR helps security teams reduce repetitive work and standardize the response process.

Why SOAR Is Needed

Security operations environments are becoming increasingly complex. Organizations operate a wide range of security solutions across endpoints, networks, email, cloud, and identity security. Each solution generates a large number of alerts and events every day. Security teams need to identify real threats, gather relevant information, and take the right response actions quickly.

The problem is that much of this process still involves manual work. Analysts need to review alerts, search related logs, check threat intelligence for IP addresses, domains, URLs, and file hashes, create tickets, notify stakeholders, and record response results. When these tasks are repeated continuously, investigation time increases and response to high-priority threats can be delayed.

Another challenge is inconsistency. When multiple security solutions are operated separately, response procedures may vary depending on who handles the alert. Even for the same type of alert, the scope of investigation, order of actions, and documentation method may differ by analyst. This makes it difficult to maintain consistency in incident response. Standardized response procedures become even more important for SOCs that operate in shifts or support multiple teams or regions.

SOAR is used to reduce these challenges. It standardizes repetitive investigation and response procedures through playbooks and connects multiple security solutions and business systems to execute required tasks automatically. As a result, security teams can reduce repetitive work and focus more on high-priority threat analysis and decision-making.

The Three Core Components of SOAR

As the name suggests, SOAR consists of security orchestration, automation, and response. These three components do not work as separate functions. Instead, they work together as part of a single security operations flow. The role of each component is as follows.

Security Orchestration

Security orchestration connects multiple security solutions and systems so that information needed for investigation can be used in a single flow. If security teams need to check EDR, email security, firewalls, threat intelligence, and ticketing systems separately, alert investigation can take a significant amount of time.

The core value of orchestration is not simply connecting multiple solutions. It defines which information should be checked first and under what conditions the process should move to the next step. This helps analysts reduce the time spent switching between consoles and understand the situation within a single investigation flow.

Security Automation

Security automation allows repeatable tasks to be executed by the system instead of by a person. Common examples include IP reputation checks, file hash lookups, user information checks, ticket creation, stakeholder notifications, and duplicate alert merging.

Automation does not mean handing every decision over to the system. Low-risk and repetitive tasks can be automated, while actions with potential business impact can require approval. For example, deleting an email confirmed to contain a malicious URL can be automated. However, actions such as locking an account or isolating a critical system can be configured to require approval from an analyst or manager.

Security Response

Security response is the stage where actual actions are taken based on investigation results. This can include account lockout, session termination, malicious file isolation, URL blocking, firewall policy updates, ticket updates, and notifications to relevant departments.

Not every response action should be executed automatically. When malicious activity is clearly confirmed, quick action may be necessary. However, actions that can affect business operations, such as account lockout or critical system isolation, should be handled carefully. SOAR uses playbooks to distinguish between actions that can be executed immediately and actions that require approval.

After a response is completed, records should remain. Information such as which alert occurred, what information was reviewed, and what actions were taken should be documented for post-incident analysis, audit response, and playbook improvement. SOAR maintains these response records in a structured way, improving consistency and traceability in security operations.

How SOAR Works

SOAR collects security alerts, enriches them with relevant information, and executes investigation and response procedures based on predefined playbooks. A typical SOAR workflow includes the following steps.

Alert Collection

SOAR collects alerts from multiple security solutions, such as SIEM, EDR, NDR, email security, and cloud security. It brings alerts that would otherwise be checked separately into one place, allowing security teams to review response targets in a more unified way.

At this stage, information such as alert source, type, risk level, time of occurrence, related users, and affected assets is reviewed together. This information helps security teams determine which alerts should be handled first.

Information Enrichment

SOAR connects additional information to the collected alerts. This can include IP reputation, domain information, URL analysis results, file hashes, user department, device owner, recent login location, and previous ticket history.

This process is called enrichment. SOAR retrieves information that analysts would otherwise need to check across multiple consoles. As a result, security teams can review not only a single alert, but also the contextual information needed to determine whether the alert represents a real threat.

Playbook Execution

A playbook is a defined response procedure that specifies what to check and what actions to take for a particular alert or incident type. Playbooks can be created for common scenarios such as phishing reports, malicious file detection, suspected ransomware activity, suspected account compromise, and exposed vulnerable servers.

For example, a phishing email response playbook may include the following steps:

• Check the sender, URL, and attachment of the reported email.
• Compare the URL and file hash against threat intelligence.
• Search for other users who received the same email.
• Quarantine or delete the email if a threat is confirmed.
• Check the account and endpoint status if any user clicked the link.
• Record the response results in a ticket.

If a response procedure exists only as a document, the process may depend on the analyst’s memory or experience, and handling may vary from person to person. When the procedure is implemented as a SOAR playbook, the defined process can be executed consistently.

Response Actions

SOAR executes response actions based on conditions defined in the playbook. These actions can include account lockout, session termination, malicious file isolation, URL blocking, IP blocking, ticket creation, stakeholder notification, and report generation.

However, executing every action automatically can be risky. When malicious activity is clearly confirmed, immediate action may be possible. But actions that can affect business operations, such as locking a key account or isolating a critical system, can be configured to run only after approval. SOAR manages response procedures by distinguishing between actions that can be executed immediately and actions that require approval.

Recording and Improvement

SOAR records who reviewed which alert and what action was taken at what time. These records are needed for audits, reporting, and preventing incident recurrence.

SOAR is not a solution that is completed once it is deployed. In actual operations, teams need to continuously review whether playbooks are appropriate, whether unnecessary steps exist, and whether approval processes delay response. Through this improvement process, SOAR playbooks and operating procedures can be gradually refined to fit the organization’s security operations model.

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Smart Financial Security Operations Powered by AhnLab SOAR

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