Automating cybersecurity does not simply mean responding to an attack more quickly. It means building an architecture in which technologies, policies and processes work together to prevent, identify and analyze threats, and rapidly activate the most appropriate response.
This is where Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) comes into play.
SOAR platforms enable Security Operations Centers (SOCs) to coordinate multiple security tools, automate repetitive tasks and standardize incident response workflows. NIST defines SOAR as Security Orchestration, Automation and Response.
However, there is a fundamental distinction: SOAR and Security Automation are not synonymous.
SOAR primarily automates and orchestrates Security Operations and event response. Security Automation, on the other hand, has a broader scope and can begin before an event even becomes an incident. This is the central argument of this article: an effective strategy should not only automate response but also prevent, at an earlier stage, whatever can be blocked automatically.
If a threat can be blocked automatically before it reaches its target, why wait for it to generate an incident that then needs to be orchestrated? This question highlights the role of automated prevention and, in particular, DNS Security.
Starting with how SOAR works and how it compares with SIEM and XDR, we will examine the relationship between prevention, detection, orchestration and response, as well as the role of DNS filtering as an additional layer of automated protection within the security architecture.
What Is Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR)?
SOAR stands for Security Orchestration, Automation and Response and refers to technologies designed to integrate different cybersecurity tools, automate operational tasks and coordinate incident response.
A SOAR platform therefore transforms a series of separate operations into structured, automated workflows.
The concept is based on three main components:
- Security Orchestration: coordinates different tools and systems within the security stack.
- Security Automation: automates repetitive activities based on rules, triggers and workflows.
- Security Response: supports incident management through predefined procedures and playbooks.
Its value does not simply lie in performing tasks faster than was previously possible through manual processes. It lies in creating a repeatable, controlled and scalable process.
For a CISO, this means improving the efficiency of Security Operations without sacrificing governance. For an MSP or MSSP, it also means being able to manage growth in the number of customers and protected assets while keeping the operational workload under control.
How Does a SOAR Platform Work?
A SOC uses a wide range of tools, including SIEM, EDR/XDR, firewalls, threat intelligence platforms, IAM systems and other specialized technologies.
The challenge arises when these systems generate data and alerts that must be analyzed through different processes.
This is where orchestration comes in.
A typical SOAR workflow may follow a sequence such as:
Alert → Enrichment → Prioritization → Automated Action → Escalation → Remediation
For example, suppose suspicious behavior is detected on an endpoint. The platform can automatically gather additional information, query threat intelligence sources, check specific Indicators of Compromise (IoCs), assign a priority to the event and activate a playbook.
Depending on the conditions identified, the workflow may then trigger an automated action or require intervention from a security analyst.
The underlying principle is important: automation does not mean removing human oversight.
This balance is becoming increasingly relevant as SOCs evolve. CSO Online highlights how automation and AI can support alert analysis and validation, while interpreting context and distinguishing genuinely meaningful signals still require specialist expertise.
Instead, automation allows cybersecurity teams to focus their expertise on events that genuinely require analysis, decision-making and experience, reducing the time absorbed by repetitive tasks.
SOAR, SIEM and XDR: What Are the Differences?
SOAR, SIEM and XDR are often mentioned in the same context, but they serve different purposes.
A SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) system collects and analyzes logs and events from across the infrastructure, providing visibility and supporting detection, correlation and investigation.
An XDR (Extended Detection and Response) solution extends detection and response across multiple security layers by correlating signals from sources such as endpoints, identities, email, cloud workloads and networks.
SOAR, meanwhile, focuses on orchestrating security tools and automating operational and incident response workflows.
In summary:
SIEM → collects and correlates events
XDR → detects and correlates threats across different security layers
SOAR → orchestrates tools, workflows and response actions
These are not necessarily competing technologies. Within a structured security architecture, they can perform different and complementary functions.
The question is therefore not which technology should “win,” but which function should be automated, which information should be shared and which action should be triggered at each stage of the security process.
Why Automate Security Operations?
The expansion of the attack surface and the growing number of technologies within the security stack make Security Operations based predominantly on manual activities increasingly impractical.
First and foremost, automation helps reduce the SOC’s operational workload.
Alert triage, enrichment, information gathering, ticket creation, escalation and other repetitive tasks can be carried out through predefined workflows.
The challenge is not merely the number of alerts, but the ability to distinguish signal from noise quickly. As SecurityWeek points out, high volumes of alerts without the necessary context can slow down triage and increase the burden on analysts. Automation and prioritization therefore become essential tools for focusing attention on the events that truly matter.
Another objective is to improve operational metrics such as Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time to Respond (MTTR) by reducing the time between identifying a potential threat and activating the appropriate countermeasures.
For a CISO, MSP or MSSP, however, the issue is even broader.
Automation means creating more standardized and scalable processes. Scalability has a direct impact on the business: it supports growth in users, infrastructure or managed customers without every expansion of the environment causing a proportional increase in manual activities.
Security Automation therefore becomes not only a technological enabler, but also a driver of operational efficiency and the economic sustainability of cybersecurity services.
Security Automation Is More Than SOAR
This brings us to the central point.
Does cybersecurity automation begin when an alert is generated?
Not necessarily.
SOAR is a key component of Security Automation, but automation can also be applied before the detection and incident response stages.
The process can be represented through five main phases:
Prevent → Detect → Analyze → Orchestrate → Respond
A SOAR platform operates primarily by orchestrating analysis and response processes. Other security controls can instead act during the prevention phase, automatically enforcing policies defined by the organization.
This distinction changes how we approach automation.
The question is no longer simply “How can I respond to this event automatically?”, but also “Which events can I prevent from occurring in the first place?”
It is precisely from this second perspective that DNS takes on a strategic role.
The Role of DNS in Security Automation
The Domain Name System (DNS) is an essential component of the Internet architecture. It maps domain names to the information required to reach the corresponding network resources.
The value of DNS as a security control extends beyond infrastructure availability. As Dark Reading explains, protecting DNS requires a combination of proper infrastructure management, traffic monitoring and filtering capabilities, including protection against techniques such as DNS hijacking, cache poisoning and DNS tunneling.
Its position also makes DNS an important security enforcement point.
In its Secure Domain Name System (DNS) Deployment Guide, NIST devotes specific attention to DNS infrastructure security and the role DNS can play within structured cybersecurity strategies.
With DNS filtering, a request to a destination identified as malicious or non-compliant with corporate policies can be blocked at the DNS level.
This introduces a form of automated prevention.
The system does not have to wait for an endpoint to be compromised, generate an alert and subsequently initiate a remediation process. If the destination has already been classified as dangerous, a policy can automatically prevent its resolution.
This is where prevention and orchestration become complementary.
SOAR and DNS Filtering: Two Layers of Security Automation
SOAR and DNS filtering are not competing technologies, nor do they perform the same task.
Their value lies precisely in this difference.
A security architecture can combine multiple layers:
DNS Filtering → Detection/SIEM/XDR → SOAR → Security Analyst
DNS filtering acts preventively on specific requests.
SIEM and XDR provide visibility, detection and event correlation.
SOAR orchestrates workflows and response actions.
The security analyst retains control over cases that require human judgment.
This leads to a simple yet important principle for any SOC:
not everything that can be prevented should become an incident that needs to be orchestrated.
Reducing exposure at an earlier stage allows detection and response technologies—and, most importantly, the people who manage them—to focus on the events that genuinely require their attention.
Security Automation should therefore be viewed not as a single technology, but as a multi-layered strategy in which different security controls operate at different stages.
FlashStart and Automated Protection at the DNS Layer
FlashStart operates within the preventive layer of Security Automation.
FlashStart applies DNS Content Filtering to web requests, checking destinations and preventing access to resources classified as dangerous or prohibited under the policies defined by the organization.
Classification is therefore a crucial component of the process.
FlashStart uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to support the identification and classification of suspicious domains. The platform analyzes more than 200,000 new websites every day and handles billions of DNS queries, applying controls before users reach the requested destination.
The approach is consistent with the automation paradigm: a centrally defined policy is applied to DNS requests without requiring a manual assessment of every connection attempt.
To learn more about how this technology works, read FlashStart’s in-depth guide to DNS Content Filtering.
Automation, however, must not come at the expense of performance.
A security control that introduces significant latency can affect both the user experience and an organization’s operations. DNS infrastructure must therefore combine protection, speed, availability and resilience.
The FlashStart network is designed around this principle: applying security controls while maintaining high-performance DNS resolution.
When a control is applied to a frequent and critical process such as DNS queries, security and performance must evolve together.
Security Automation for MSPs and MSSPs: Scalability Becomes a Business Driver
Security Automation offers even greater value to MSPs, MSSPs, ISPs and System Integrators.
Service providers face a specific challenge: increasing the number of customers they protect while keeping operational complexity under control.
Every process that requires repetitive configurations, manual checks and frequent intervention increases the cost to serve.
By contrast, centralized policies, automated protection, orchestration and standardized workflows make it possible to build more scalable services.
The relationship can be summarized as follows:
Automation → Operational Efficiency → Scalability → Recurring Services → Business Growth
In this scenario, DNS filtering can become one of the protection layers included in a managed service portfolio.
For an MSP or ISP, a solution such as FlashStart makes it possible to integrate DNS protection into its cybersecurity offering by applying centralized policies across distributed networks and users.
The strategic advantage therefore extends beyond an individual security function.
Standardizing controls can help create repeatable, manageable and commercially sustainable cybersecurity services, while maintaining a high level of protection.
How to Build an Effective Security Automation Strategy
No single technology can automate the entire cybersecurity lifecycle.
An effective strategy should begin with processes.
Organizations need to identify repetitive tasks, determine which events can be prevented, define which require detection and investigation, and establish which actions can be assigned to automated playbooks.
Second, fragmentation must be avoided. Automation delivers greater value when security tools and processes can exchange information and operate within a coherent architecture.
Finally, results must be measured.
MTTD, MTTR, alert volumes, prevented incidents, analyst workload and operating costs help determine whether automation is genuinely improving the organization’s security posture and SOC performance.
The model therefore becomes:
prevent whenever possible, detect when necessary, orchestrate what can be automated and retain human oversight where it delivers the greatest value.
From Automated Response to Automated Protection
The future of cybersecurity does not depend on accumulating more and more tools, but on enabling them to operate within a coherent strategy.
SOAR has made it possible to automate and orchestrate a growing share of Security Operations. The next step is to extend this approach across the entire security lifecycle by integrating prevention, detection, orchestration and response.
DNS filtering is one of the layers where this preventive automation can be applied.
Truly effective Security Automation should not only ask how to respond to an incident more quickly.
It should also ask how to prevent an avoidable threat from becoming an incident.
This is where automated prevention and orchestration cease to be separate topics and become parts of the same cybersecurity strategy.
FAQs About Security Automation & Orchestration (SOAR)
What Is SOAR in Cybersecurity?
SOAR stands for Security Orchestration, Automation and Response. It refers to technologies that integrate different security tools, automate repetitive tasks and coordinate structured incident response workflows.
What Is the Difference Between SOAR and Security Automation?
Security Automation is a broader concept. SOAR applies automation and orchestration primarily to Security Operations and incident response, while other security controls can automate prevention, detection, policy enforcement and protection activities.
What Is the Difference Between SIEM and SOAR?
SIEM focuses primarily on collecting, analyzing and correlating security logs and events. SOAR coordinates tools and processes to automate workflows and response actions. The two technologies can therefore perform complementary functions within the same security architecture.
Are SOAR and XDR the Same Thing?
No. XDR focuses on detection and response across different security layers, while SOAR focuses on orchestrating tools and automating Security Operations workflows.
Can SOAR Prevent Cyberattacks?
SOAR can support automated response and trigger specific containment actions, but prevention also involves other security layers. DNS filtering, firewalls, endpoint protection and other controls can intervene before or during different stages of the cyber kill chain.
What Role Does DNS Play in Security Automation?
DNS can serve as a security policy enforcement point. DNS filtering makes it possible to automatically block requests to domains classified as malicious or prohibited, adding a layer of prevention before certain threats reach the user.
Can DNS Filtering and SOAR Work Together?
Yes. They operate at different stages of the security architecture. DNS filtering can support automated prevention, while SOAR coordinates and automates analysis and response workflows for events that require further action.
