Detection as Code Benefits: On Embracing The Future of Cyber Defense to Fuel Your Next-Gen SOC

Over the course of the past decade, we have field-tested the argument that manual threat detection processes can no longer keep up with the current security demands. It has already been adamantly established that an era of Everything as Code (EaC) is a new reality, and security teams seeking innovation are putting its novel approaches into practice. InfoSec professionals set a standard high, looking for exposure-based solutions that pinpoint emerging threats and manage them via code. In this article, we will take a high-level look at how you can allow for the implementation of the best software development practices to bolster cyber resilience with the Detection-as-Code approach, staying up to date on Threat Hunting with flexible detections.

What is Detection as Code?

Detection as Code (DaC) promotes software-driven threat detection, taking tried-and-true practices and procedures from software engineering and applying them to cybersecurity to deliver scalable and effective threat detection. When laying the groundwork for the approach, Anton Chuvakin stressed that just like Infrastructure as Code (IaC) aims at the provisioning of infrastructure through code, DaC should be perceived as a systematic discipline, pursuing a “more systematic, flexible and comprehensive approach to threat detection that is somewhat inspired by software development”.

In a nutshell, Detection as Code follows a holistic approach of security log analysis to study the attacker behavior patterns and manage those detections of odd behavior via code.

Why is Detection as Code the Future of Cyber Security?

A vital decision of getting your detections into code brings quite a few advantages to the table. Code-driven approach to detection content facilitates security professionals to deliver reliable detections that can undergo thorough quality control, be tested, checked into source control, and scrutinized by peers. Let us drill down into the specific benefits the organization with the Detection-as-Code approach gets.

Test-Driven Development (TDD)

Test-Driven Development is an approach to software development that allows timely responses to code-related issues, drastically improving the overall quality of deliverables.

A TDD approach to building detections enhances the quality of the detection code and makes it possible to create detections that are more adaptable. Developers don’t have to worry about impeding routine security operations while making modifications to their detectors.

Reusable Code

As detections pile up, security teams begin to see distinct trends taking shape. Eventually, without having to begin from scratch, engineers may utilize the existing piece of code to carry out the same or very comparable function across many detections.

Code reusability should be implemented as an integral approach to the enhancement of a code-driven workflow that allows SOC members to streamline detection-writing, promote detection efficacy, and respond faster to emerging threats, reusing code from one detection to the next.

Reliable Detections

The manifold nature of the modern security environment demands appropriate and reliable solutions to manage its complexity as efficiently as possible. Writing detections in a popular and flexible language grants more adaptable and practical detections: SOC Prime promotes Sigma as a universal language for writing and sharing detection content across multiple platform formats. Utilizing one common language for cybersecurity advantages over a limited usability and applicability range of domain-specific languages (DSL).

By automating Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) for all the development stages, companies achieve agility for their teams to deliver fine-tuned detections. The true value of CI/CD pipelines is realized through automation. Backed up by streamlined, automated processes, developers release viable, customizable, and cost-effective solutions that cut through the noise of the abundant flow of logs.

The Implementation of the Detection-as-Code Approach

To a certain extent, a detection was always a code. Antivirus algorithms, queries stored as files – but with code exclusively available to certain professionals, owned by a few vendors, and impacting a limited pool of organizations. SOC Prime introduced ground-breaking innovations to the revolutionary Detection-as-Code approach, offering vendor-agnostic, open-source threat detections mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK® framework, allowing for the alignment of the adversary behaviors with the industry standards.

With great power comes great responsibility, and in the course of the code-driven approach, it is vital to consolidate flexibility, availability, and versatility with an intrinsic strive for high-quality content produced. Offering collective expertise-as-a-service, managed as a Threat Bounty Program that harvests the industry proficiency of 600+ developers, we allocate resources discerningly, accelerating the production speed and ensuring that Sigma-enabled content is adapted on the fly, keeping pace with the attackers. We deliver Detection-as-Code operations enriched with CTI and the latest threat context powered by the industry-first search engine for Threat Hunting, Threat Detection, and Cyber Threat Intelligence. SOC Prime’s code-driven threat detection solutions help over 7,500 organizations from over 155 countries mature their security posture. Our success formula is built on growing the number of supported security analytics tools & technologies and enriching the detection capabilities for next-generation cloud-native SIEM, EDR, and XDR platforms, turning collaboration into security innovation.

As the only provider of Detection-as-Code solutions built on zero-trust security model principles, SOC Prime offers a thoroughgoing yet flexible approach to threat detection. We strongly believe that cybersecurity is one of the major challenges for humanity and can be improved by open-source, knowledge-sharing, and a performance-driven culture. Join SOC Prime to tap into more mature cyber defense, driven by the global community of Threat Bounty Program researchers and Threat Hunters, backed by the feedback of 28,000+ users.