Security Automation Workshop

Welcome to the Security Automation Workshop

In this interactive workshop, you'll learn how to automate security tasks and create orchestrated workflows for efficient incident response. By leveraging automation, security teams can reduce response times, eliminate repetitive tasks, and ensure consistent handling of security events.

This workshop is designed to provide hands-on experience with security automation tools and techniques. You'll start with basic concepts and progressively build more advanced automation scenarios.

1

Introduction to Security Automation

Security automation enables teams to programmatically execute security operations tasks with minimal human intervention. This module introduces key concepts and benefits of security automation, including:

  • Understanding the automation lifecycle
  • Identifying tasks suitable for automation
  • Evaluating tools and platforms for security automation
  • Measuring the impact and ROI of automation initiatives
Automation Platforms Security Orchestration Scripting Basics
2

Building Automation Scripts

Learn to create automation scripts that handle common security tasks. You'll work with Python to develop scripts for:

  • Automated log parsing and analysis
  • Threat intelligence enrichment
  • Vulnerability scanner integration
  • Basic incident response automation
# Example of a basic security automation script
import requests
import json
import logging

# Setup logging
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO, format='%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s')

# API configuration
API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"
ENDPOINT = "https://api.threatintel.example.com/v1/lookup"

def enrich_ioc(indicator, indicator_type):
    """Enriches indicators of compromise with threat intelligence data"""
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }

    payload = {
        "indicator": indicator,
        "type": indicator_type
    }

    try:
        response = requests.post(ENDPOINT, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(payload))
        response.raise_for_status()

        return response.json()
    except Exception as e:
        logging.error(f"Error enriching IOC {indicator}: {str(e)}")
        return None

def process_alerts(alerts_file):
    """Process alerts from SIEM export and enrich with threat intelligence"""
    with open(alerts_file, 'r') as f:
        alerts = json.load(f)

    enriched_alerts = []

    for alert in alerts:
        ip_addresses = alert.get("source_ips", []) + alert.get("destination_ips", [])

        for ip in ip_addresses:
            enrichment = enrich_ioc(ip, "ip")
            if enrichment:
                alert["enrichment"] = alert.get("enrichment", {})
                alert["enrichment"][ip] = enrichment

        enriched_alerts.append(alert)

    with open('enriched_alerts.json', 'w') as f:
        json.dump(enriched_alerts, f, indent=4)

    logging.info(f"Processed {len(alerts)} alerts, saved to enriched_alerts.json")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    process_alerts("alerts.json")
Python API Integration Threat Intelligence
3

Security Orchestration Platforms

Explore Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms to build comprehensive playbooks for security operations. You'll learn:

  • SOAR platform architecture and components
  • Building multi-stage orchestration workflows
  • Integration with security tools and data sources
  • Testing and tuning playbooks for efficiency
SOAR Platforms Workflow Orchestration API Integration
4

Advanced Automation Case Studies

Dive into real-world automation scenarios and implement advanced security automation solutions:

  • Automated incident triage and response
  • User access review and remediation
  • Cloud security posture management automation
  • Threat hunting automation
Cloud Security IAM Automation Threat Hunting

Learning Modules

Foundations of Security Automation

Beginner

Introduction to security automation concepts, benefits, and use cases. Learn about the automation lifecycle and how to identify opportunities for automation in security operations.

Python for Security Automation

Beginner

Learn to use Python for security automation tasks. Build scripts for log analysis, threat intelligence enrichment, and basic incident response workflows.

SOAR Implementation

Intermediate

Explore Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms. Design and implement playbooks for common security scenarios and integrate with security tools.

Network Security Automation

Intermediate

Automate network security tasks such as firewall rule management, network device configuration, and network traffic analysis using scripts and orchestration tools.

Cloud Security Automation

Advanced

Implement automation for cloud security posture management, infrastructure as code security, and automated remediation of cloud security issues.

Automated Threat Hunting

Advanced

Build automated threat hunting workflows that continuously search for indicators of compromise, suspicious behaviors, and potential security incidents.

Tools & Resources

Security Automation Tools

Automation Platforms
  • Ansible
  • Terraform
  • Chef/Puppet
  • AWS CloudFormation
SOAR Platforms
  • Palo Alto Cortex XSOAR
  • Splunk Phantom
  • IBM Resilient
  • Swimlane
Programming Libraries
  • Python Requests
  • Selenium WebDriver
  • Paramiko (SSH)
  • Scapy (Network)
Cloud Security Tools
  • AWS Lambda
  • Azure Automation
  • Google Cloud Functions
  • Cloud Security Posture Management
API Integration
  • REST API Clients
  • GraphQL
  • Webhooks
  • API Gateway
Security Tools with APIs
  • SIEM Solutions
  • Vulnerability Scanners
  • EDR/XDR Platforms
  • Threat Intelligence Platforms

Learning Resources

Documentation
  • Tool Documentation
  • Security Automation Guides
  • API References
  • SOAR Platform Guides
Online Courses
  • Python for Security Automation
  • Cloud Security Implementation
  • SOAR Platform Training
  • Incident Response Automation
GitHub Repositories
  • Automation Script Examples
  • Security Playbooks
  • Integration Code Samples
  • Security Automation Frameworks
Communities
  • Security Automation Forums
  • SOAR User Groups
  • DevSecOps Communities
  • Security Automation Slack Channels

Certificate of Completion

Security Automation Workshop

This certificate is awarded to

[Your Name Here]

For successfully completing the Security Automation Workshop and demonstrating proficiency in security automation concepts, tools, and implementation.

Aziz Alghamdi

Instructor

May 1, 2025

Date

Certificate ID: SA-WS-2025-0001

Download Certificate Share Certificate