MSP IR Automation: Orchestrating Incident Response with SOAR

If you’ve ever tried to run incident response at an MSP without automation, you know the feeling. It's like trying to conduct a symphony with a kazoo, a spatula, and three people who showed up late and forgot their instruments. Enter SOAR.

Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms are essential tools for MSPs looking to scale incident response without scaling burnout. The promise? Faster triage. Fewer manual rabbit holes. More sleep. Let’s dig into how SOAR can help and how to actually roll it out without blowing everything up.

What Incident Response Actually Looks Like

Incident response for MSPs isn’t some neat checklist—it’s more like trying to fix a leaking pipe while someone’s yelling about a flood. The list below is a broad overview of what it includes:

1. Preparation
   • Create policies, playbooks, and roles so no one’s guessing mid-incident. Think of it like emergency exit maps and being ready for anything.
2. Detection and Analysis
   • Monitor all the things. Use threat intel. Dig into alerts. Half your job is deciding whether that weird login is a real threat or just someone VPN’ing from a beach (lucky them).
3. Containment, Eradication, and Recovery
   • Put the threat in a box, kill it with fire (metaphorically), and restore systems. Bonus points if you can do this without accidentally rebooting a finance server during payroll.
4. Post-Incident Activities
   • Hindsight isn’t 20/20 if you don’t look back. Run a lessons-learned. Update your playbooks. Log each and every activity.

Where SOAR Enters (and Why It’s Worth It)

SOAR helps by turning “20 steps in a Google Doc” into “2 clicks and a mental walk.” Here’s what makes it click:

• Automates the Tedious Tasks
  Alert enrichment, IP lookups, URL detonation, ticket creation—things your team shouldn’t be doing by hand at scale.
• Plays Nice with Your Stack
  Connect your EDR, SIEM, and firewall so you can orchestrate actions across systems.
• Standardizes Your Response
  Build playbooks that fire effectively and consistently.

Crawl, Walk, Run: Rolling Out SOAR Without Regret

This isn’t a "set it and forget it" approach. SOAR works best with a phased rollout that gives your team time to adapt.

Crawl (0–6 months): Lay the Groundwork

• Train the Team: Show folks what SOAR can (and can’t) do. Demystify the magic.
• Pilot in a Sandbox: Start with low-risk workflows—maybe low-priority malware tickets.

Walk (6–12 months): Expand Safely

• Scale the Automation: Add more playbooks for more scenarios. Avoid automating your way into deleting the CEO’s inbox (I've heard of crazier things).
• Fine-Tune Integrations: Ensure your tools are talking to each other without misinterpreting emojis as command-line instructions.
• Track Metrics: Time to remediation, alert volume, and “how many angry emails did we avoid this week?” are all valid KPIs.

Run (12+ months): Mature and Optimize

• Leverage AI (Responsibly): Some SOAR platforms can make decisions based on ML—just don’t let the robot run the whole show. Think of it more like an intern with a great memory, not a CISO replacement.
• Continuous Improvement: Refine playbooks, update workflows, and embrace feedback. What worked six months ago may be outdated now.
• Keep Humans in the Loop: You’ll always need analysts for the gray areas. Automation handles the “known bad.” Humans handle nuance.

Humans: Still the Secret Sauce

Yes, SOAR is amazing. No, it won’t replace your team. Here’s why people still matter:

• Critical Thinking: A machine might know that a domain is new, but only a human can ask, “Why is it emailing our CFO a PDF titled ‘confidential_bonuses _final2.pdf’?”
• Adaptability: Attackers pivot fast. Humans pivot faster.
• Oversight and Ethics: Just because you can auto-delete an email doesn’t mean you should. Someone has to own the judgment calls.

You’re Not Replacing Analysts, You’re Arming Them

Rolling out SOAR isn’t about replacing people with scripts. It’s about giving your team the tools to respond faster, smarter, and with fewer headaches. If you start small, build confidence, and keep humans in the loop, SOAR becomes a force multiplier.