7 Drawbacks of SOAR Solutions Nobody Told You About

SOAR stands for Security Orchestration Automation and Response. It is a collection of software that enables businesses to collect and analyze security data and automatically respond to threats based on it. It is a technology that allows businesses to execute and automate tasks between different tools and resources all from a unified platform.

You will find security experts telling you about its advantages such as faster response times, optimized threat intelligence ability to redirect manual operations and minimizing the damage caused by cybersecurity attacks and data breaches. Sadly, they are only showing one side of the whole picture. 

There is another side of security orchestration automation and response that nobody talks about, which is the dark side of SOAR. Just like with every other technology, it also has its fair share of drawbacks which does not get the attention it deserves. So, we decided to shed some light on the downsides of security orchestration automation and response so you know exactly what to expect from it.

In this article, AntiDos will learn about seven disadvantages of the SOAR solution that nobody talks about.

7 Drawbacks of SOAR Solutions Every Business Should Be Aware Of

Here are seven drawbacks of security orchestration automation and response software you wished you knew earlier.

Lack of Security Strategy

Security orchestration automation and response heavily relies on automation to detect and mitigate threats. Identifying cybersecurity threats and neutralizing them is just one piece of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. There is much more to cybersecurity strategy than just that. It includes everything from improving your cybersecurity posture to identifying where the greatest business risks lie. That is where SOAR will let you down. 

In an age where your business could be a target of dozens of different threats all at once, it is important for businesses to prioritize cybersecurity threats and evaluate the impact each threat could have on your business. SOAR does not possess these capabilities. That is why it is important to have a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that covers all bases and SOAR should be a small cog in that wheel. It should not be the wheel itself.

Setting The Wrong Expectation

There is no denying the fact that security orchestration automation and response software is improving with each passing day but you should not set unrealistic expectations from it. You should also need to understand that cyber crimminals are also getting smarter. 

They are using new and sophisticated tools and methods to get through your security defenses. In short, you should never expect SOAR to block every threat. Treat SOAR as just a single tool in your arsenal and not the only tool. Double check the findings of SOAR with other security tools such as Anti DDoS instead of blindly following it.

Complexity

If you ask me what is the biggest problem with security orchestration automation and response in one word, I would say, it is complex. The sheer complexity of the SOAR tools makes it harder for businesses to fully take advantage of all its capabilities. Don’t expect everyone to use SOAR, only security analysts and security architects can use it.

In its defense, you can argue that its complexity is due to the nature of cybersecurity attacks it is designed to identify and mitigate. Yes, that’s true as cybersecurity threats come in all shapes and sizes and can take different forms. This limits the scope of SOAR to certain sectors of your organziation instead of benefiting the entire organization.

Integration

One area where that complexity aspect was really prominent is in integrations. Even though the solution provider markets their product as an integration powerhouse which can integrate with all your security tools, achieving that goal is not as easy as some might think.

Integrating SOAR with your ticketing system or log aggregator is not as simple as pressing a button. In fact, you will have to ask your developers to write custom code for it. This means that you can only take advantage of integrations if you have access to these technical experts. What’s even worse is that this could make life tough for non technical stakeholders.

Dependence on Software

The primary purpose of SOAR is to automate certain tasks to minimize human intervention. The problem is that this approach can work with only a few tasks and not all tasks. Businesses need to understand which tasks they can automate with SOAR and which ones they should not instead of heavily relying on security orchestration automation and response for everything. 

There are certain threats that require human intervention to resolve. Another issue with SOAR is that it limits the ability to bring human expertise into the equation which means that you are missing out on an opportunity to resolve threats quickly.

No Support For Security Culture

As mentioned above, SOAR can only be used by technical experts like security analysts, architects and engineers. This means that it does a poor job when it comes to accounting for human centric elements such as developing and  implementing a security culture in your organization. If you are not a security practitioner or professional, SOAR might not be for you. This leaves out a large portion of your organziation including departments such as human resource, marketing sales, supply chain and legal.

Transferring Staff Resources To Technology Resources

Relying heavily on SOAR will slowly and gradually lead to loss in trust on human expertise. Businesses become overconfident that their SOAR tools can protect them from any threat so they don’t need cybersecurity experts. Some might even start firing security analysts because they think that there is no point in paying them when the software is doing everything they do. 

What they don’t realize is that there are threats that can easily fly under the radar of SOAR and can only be detected and mitigated with the help of security professionals. When you are heavily dependent on SOAR, you risk getting infected with those threats. Which is the biggest drawback of SOAR solution in your opinion? Share it with us in the comments section below.

Jared Freen
 

Jared is a dynamic and driven journalist with a passion for uncovering the truth and sharing untold stories. With over a decade of experience reporting from the front lines of some of the world's most volatile regions, Jared has a reputation for fearlessly pursuing the facts, no matter how challenging or dangerous the situation.