SANS 2020 Automation and Integration Survey Shows Investment on the Rise

BETHESDA, Md., May 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- There is clear progress being made in automation and integration, with many organizations ramping up investments on projects that are geared toward enabling staff to work smarter and more efficiently. This is according to the results of the SANS 2020 Automation and Integration Survey, which will be presented by SANS Institute in two webcasts on May 19 and May 20.

"It's been said many times that people are the most valuable asset to an organization," says SANS analyst and security operations expert Don Murdoch. "The 2020 A&I survey results show that organizations are making strategic investments that will improve day-to-day operations in order to maximize staff, support staff working smarter, and improve both security operations and incident response. Automation is expected to bolster all around improvements for both people and processes in most cases, not used as a method to reduce head count."

The 2020 survey results show a substantial uptick in adoption of dedicated automation solutions, with an 11.8% increase in tool adoption in the past year. This data point is even more significant when coupled with the fact that survey respondents reported increased funding levels of 3% to 10% above 2019 levels.

Higher emphasis is being placed on implementing projects that improve security operations. Projects such as improving incident response (IR) command, managing IR, and cyber threat integration top the list of priorities, with 27% to 30% of survey respondents either currently implementing or planning to implement such projects within the next year.

"There is a learning curve," cautions Murdoch, "and a definite need for organizations to make sure that they apply automation and integration to work activities that improve day-to-day processes. In analyzing the survey results, it's clear that organizations are applying automation and integration to many project areas that will maximize overall security spend."

Webcasts Details

Full results of the SANS 2020 Automation and Integration Survey will be shared during a webcast on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. EDT (17:00 UTC), sponsored by CloudPassage, Devo, DomainTools, Siemplify, Swimlane, and ThreatConnect, and hosted by SANS Institute. Register to attend the webcast at https://www.sans.org/webcasts/112640

Get additional perspective on the survey results in a second webcast on Wednesday, May 20 at 1:00 p.m. EDT (17:00 UTC), in which representatives from CloudPassage, DomainTools, and ThreatConnect will join a panel discussion to dive deeper into the results with survey author Don Murdoch and survey advisor Barbara Filkins. Register to attend this webcast at https://www.sans.org/webcasts/112645

Those who register for either webcast will be among the first to receive the associated whitepaper written by Don Murdoch, SANS analyst, instructor, and security operations expert.

About SANS Institute
The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. SANS is the most trusted and, by far, the largest provider of cyber security training and certification to professionals at governments and commercial institutions world-wide. Renowned SANS instructors teach over 60 different courses at more than 200 live cyber security training events as well as online. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, validates a practitioner's qualifications via over 35 hands-on, technical certifications in cyber security. The SANS Technology Institute, a regionally accredited independent subsidiary, offers master's degrees in cyber security. SANS offers a myriad of free resources to the InfoSec community including consensus projects, research reports, and newsletters; it also operates the Internet's early warning system--the Internet Storm Center. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners, representing varied global organizations from corporations to universities, working together to help the entire information security community. (https://www.sans.org)

SOURCE SANS Institute

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