Why organizations must look at integrating human-centric Automation into Cybersecurity

Despite the promises of transforming cyber security operations considerably, automation has not become mainstream yet. Although forecasts by cyber security experts says that the transformational potential of automation in cybersecurity will make security organizations embrace it on a large scale basis, many organizations still don't know how humans and machines can work in tandem and hence fails to unleash the full potential of automation in their security environments.   

Before we look to integrate automation technologies into cyber security functions, it is crucial to understand the unique skill sets of machines and humans and how to balance them well, said Sameer Shelke, CEO & Co-Founder, Aujas Cybersecurity.     

“As we automate cybersecurity for our customers through our Cyber Defense Centers (CDC), we look at technologies and make them work using human factor models. We call it human centric automation,” said he. 

For example, machines are very good at carrying out repetitive and defined tasks, complex computations and are also good at multitasking, while compartmentalizing and doing things in an efficient and consistent manner is always time dependent or situation dependent for us.  

Also, humans are way better at adapting to the unknown, which machines certainly can’t do. Machines can never match up to human skills, when it comes to building relationships, and creative thinking also. Given the specific context and the specific environment, humans are extremely good at finding better ways to do things.  

Here are five reasons why automation is of great use in cyber security, according to Shelke.

Accuracy- Human errors are one of the biggest challenges that organizations face when they implement and manage security controls. Machines are able to perform repetitive tasks accurately, that would be a big achievement for us.

Speed- For predictable tasks, or analytical tasks or automated tasks, the speed at which machines can operate in an efficient manner is definitely a key element of benefit.

Scale- The amount of data the security tools and control generate makes it difficult to find out what's really important for us. That scale of operations which machines and automation can really achieve and decipher information for the decision-making tasks is important.

Consistency- To manage control, and for risk protection measures is to be consistent, all the time, The consistency of what we do is extremely important and machines can be a great tool for us to do that work.

Skill-efficient- Security skills shortage is a big concern all over. Hence, using the skills efficiently to do the right things is very important. Hence, using machines for the things which can be better performed by them, and save the time, energy, and skills to help people do what they can do better is important.

“As practitioners of security, we have to consider the human factors carefully, i.e. how we work and how the technologies work and how they can coexist in the organization. As engineers of cybersecurity transformation, our job essentially is to make these amazing technologies work for our customers. At Aujas CDCs across various domains of cyber security, our delivery engines include automation as part of what we do, and a big focus is on the human factor in addition to the amazing technologies available, so they can best serve the interests of our customers,” explains Shelke.