Ruslan Rakhmetov, Security Vision
Information security incident management processes look different and consist of individual elements, playbooks, runbooks, and atomic actions, which we discussed earlier. In the SOAR module and NG SOAR suite of the Security Vision automation platform, scripts have evolved from simple static instructions into complex, dynamic, and automated workflows. They are the core of a modern monitoring and response center, so we'll talk about their design, logic, and what techniques will help translate response procedures to a modern look.
Table of contents:
1. Static and dynamic playbooks
2. How are SIEM, EDR and SOAR related
3. How to complement the response system in SOC?
4. What does the incident management process look like?
5. How to improve the effectiveness of SOAR?
1. Static and dynamic playbooks
Playbooks were originally static documents (Word files, PDFs, or pages in a corporate knowledge base), an approach that was much better than no formalized procedures at all, but had serious drawbacks. Static documents quickly became outdated, difficult and time-consuming to use in the midst of a crisis, and complete reliance on manual execution led to human errors, missed steps, and slow response times. The modern approach involves the use of "dynamic playbooks". These are already adaptive, automated workflows implemented on specialized platforms, the key difference of which is that a dynamic playbook can automatically adapt its sequence of actions depending on the context of an incident received in real time, the network environment and the availability of various information security products.
This shift was caused by two main factors:
- The huge volume and high speed of modern attacks, which make purely manual response unviable.
- The emergence of technologies capable of orchestrating and automating response actions across the entire IT infrastructure.
The concept of "dynamic playbooks" has allowed us to make the transition from a prescriptive to an adaptive response model, or from a fire extinguishing system to a set of smart sensors that help manage incidents in a proactive rather than reactive manner.
A static playbook is like a printed map: it's useful, but it doesn't take into account traffic jams or blocked roads. A dynamic playbook works like a GPS navigator: it constantly re-evaluates the situation and calculates the optimal route based on new data. For example, the same Phishing playbook should behave differently if the target is an ordinary employee or financial director, or if a malicious link was clicked on rather than just received in an email.
2. How are SIEM, EDR and SOAR related
Moreover, modern incident response relies on the close integration of three key technologies, where playbooks act as a link that determines the logic of interaction:
1) SIEM (Security Information and Event Management), which collects, aggregates and correlates log data from the entire corporate network to generate alerts about potential threats.
2) EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response), which provide deeper, layered visibility and built-in responsiveness across endpoints, network, and cloud environments. They complement SIEM by detecting more sophisticated threats that can bypass traditional log-based correlation methods.
3) SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response), the "brain" and "hands" of a modern SOC. SOAR platforms receive alerts from SIEM systems and use playbooks to automate and orchestrate responses, including working as autonomous agents "on the ground", as is done in SV SOAR with EDR agents.
3. How to complement the response system in SOC?
The field of incident management continues to evolve, moving from a purely reactive model to more proactive and even predictive approaches, which is why modern response systems include other components more often. Here, for example, are the ones we use in our solutions:
4) Artificial intelligence and machine learning allow you to analyze incoming threat data, evaluate the business context, and dynamically assemble a response workflow from a library of modular actions. AI assistants built into SOAR allow you to find similar incidents, calculate an estimate of false positives, and create recommendations for eliminating consequences. Escalation to humans will only occur to make critical decisions or in case of anomalies.
5) Proactive Threat Hunting allows you to identify suspicious patterns of activity that do not cause specific alerts. In practice, this allows you to launch a response even before significant damage is caused, if there is a hidden threat.
6) Integration with cyber intelligence (Threat Intelligence) as part of the integration of the TIP module or the analysis of newsletters from regulators and information providers from the network (including the AI analyzer of unstructured data).
7) Vulnerability Scanning and detection of critical flaws in the configurations of technological platforms (Security Profile Compliance) can further reduce the attack surface in order to speed up the work of SOAR and make life easier for information security department specialists.
4. What does the incident management process look like?
The final process can be represented as follows:
- the SIEM or EDR system detects suspicious activity (for example, multiple failed login attempts followed by a successful login from an unusual geographical location) and generates an alert.;
- the SOAR platform receives this alert, which corresponds to the activation condition of a specific playbook (for example, "Playbook responding to suspicious login");
- next, the steps and runbooks are performed, selected dynamically;
- enrichment is launched, for example, requests to the cyber intelligence platform to verify the reputation of the source IP address or the use of external analytical services (for example, WhoIs or VirusTotal);
- the investigation process is started, for example, checking the user's role in Active Directory and collecting information about his recent activity;
- containment processes (for example, if the IP address turns out to be malicious and the user has high privileges) allow you to automatically disable the user account through an API call to Active Directory and block the IP address on the firewall;
- a new application automatically appears in the IT Service Management System (ITSM/SD) (or as part of the general SOAR module procedure).;
- an alert is created in the SOC command channel in the messenger.
This integration dramatically reduces the average response time (MTTR) from hours or days to seconds or minutes, frees analysts from routine tasks to focus on complex investigations, and ensures consistent, error-free 24/7 response.
5. How to improve the effectiveness of SOAR?
An effective playbook contains much more than just a sequence of procedural steps: to ensure clarity, accountability, and effectiveness in a stressful incident situation, it must have a comprehensive structure that includes artifacts and metadata, roles and areas of responsibility, communication protocols, and decision logic. Moreover, each scenario should have different triggers – these are clear and unambiguous sets of events that activate the playbook. Triggers are arranged according to the "if-then" condition: for example, if enough events of the same type have accumulated, then the scenario becomes a "massive incident" and can activate a larger number of SPI, or if the total weight of "raw" SIEM or UEBA events exceeds a set threshold, then a new incident is formed and the response workflow is launched in SOAR.
The detailed, consistent actions that need to be taken within dynamic playbooks directly correspond to the selected response framework (NIST, SANS, or combined techniques, as in our incident management module). They form the core of the playbook and are launched dynamically depending on the types of objects (see the resource-service model in products, for example, SV AM), the availability of integrated security features and the type of incident, which is determined automatically at the classification stage (for this purpose, MITRE matrices of techniques and tactics, FSTEC database, threat modeling results and reference books included in the module are used).
In the end, each scenario should have a Defined End State, a set of criteria that must be met in order to consider the incident resolved and the playbook completed. For example: "All affected systems have been updated and returned to online mode", "The root cause of the incident has been identified and fixed", "Vulnerability has been fixed and confirmed by repeated scanning" (as, for example, in the vulnerability management module SV VM).
Playbooks have evolved from simple static instructions into complex, dynamic, and automated workflows. The successful implementation and use of playbooks depends on three key factors: a solid methodological foundation, a clear and comprehensive structure (including not only technical steps, but also organizational aspects such as roles, communications, and escalation), and deep integration with the modern ecosystem security.
Lack of resources, lack of management support, and a weak safety culture can negate the most advanced technical solutions. Therefore, the more automation there is in this process and the higher its adaptability to the changing IT landscape and threats, the more resources are released for strategic security. With the development of artificial intelligence, proactive threat search, and integration with DevSecOps, scenarios will transform from reactive tools into predictive mechanisms capable of not only responding to incidents, but also preventing them, strengthening the organization's protection at all stages of the systems and data lifecycle.
.jpg)
.jpg)
