Automation workflows add a lot of value to an organization’s day-to-day operations. At a minimum, they streamline the execution of complex, multi-step processes, thereby allowing people to focus on higher-value tasks. On top of that, automation workflows can provide valuable insights through the metrics that they gather – including the number of requests, the date and time they were requested, the time it took to complete each request, who made the request, and much more.

In the past year, research indicates that nearly a third of organizations have accelerated their plans to automate key security and IR processes, while another 85% plan on automating them in the next 12 months. Despite the positivity of these statistics, many organizations struggle to change to a more automated process. This was highlighted at a recent webinar we held with a panel of senior cybersecurity experts from a multitude of sectors.

SOC analysts suffer from alert fatigue caused by too many data sources and platforms, too little context in investigations, too few people, and too little time. Mature cybersecurity teams manage this challenge by leveraging an integrated set of data analytics capabilities from best-of-breed solutions to establish an end-to-end experience — from data collection to response.

Today on the Future of Security Operations podcast, Thomas is joined by Jack Naglieri, CEO of Panther Labs, a cloud-native SIEM platform that alleviates the pain of traditional SIEM with detection-as-code, a robust security data lake, and huge scalability with zero-ops.

Blocking access to certain URLs is a simple, effective strategy for protecting users and the network. But, in a world where new and increasingly sophisticated scams seem to appear almost weekly, the task of maintaining that list can become overly burdensome when performed manually. Torq offers a number of ways to automate URL blocklist management, reducing manual effort and speeding up response to new threats.

Contractors, freelancers, and other temporary workers have become essential parts of the modern enterprise. For IT and security teams, these individuals present unique challenges compared to full-time workers—and potential risks. The ‘offboarding’ process for these contractors is often less formal than bringing them on. Meaning, many just stop using their entitlements and accounts without actually closing them. These dormant accounts can pose serious risks to the organization.

We know for customers creating automation Stories in Tines, anything that makes tracking your progress more manageable and helps you demonstrate the platform's value makes a big difference. We're excited to announce that Reporting is now live across Tines. This new feature allows our customers and Community Edition users quickly and easily calculate how much time they're saving by automating their repetitive workflows through the platform.

Right now, much of the security world is focused on the RSA conference in San Francisco, California. The Torq team has been preparing for the event for months—and we’re thrilled that we finally get a chance to talk about Torq in person with other security professionals.