Automated Alert Bundling for Security Operations Centers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Security operations centers face inefficiencies and resource wastage due to manual investigations of numerous security alerts, with similar alerts requiring duplicate efforts and potential missed connections to underlying causes, leading to increased stress and resource consumption.
Innovation Solution
An automated alert bundling system that groups similar alerts based on various criteria such as event similarity, behavioral profiles, criticality of assets, and indicators of compromise, allowing for bundled alerts to be processed more efficiently and reducing the workload on analysts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual investigation of each security alert is performed, then thorough analysis of individual alerts is achieved, but resource consumption increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent groups multiple similar security alerts into bundles based on similarity criteria (event type, source, target, severity). Analysts investigate one representative alert per bundle, and the investigation results are automatically applied to all bundled alerts. This merging approach maintains thorough analysis quality while dramatically improving productivity by eliminating duplicate investigation work across similar alerts.
2Loss of information
If similar alerts are investigated separately, then individual alert details are captured, but duplicate efforts waste resources and time
Solution Approach 1:
The system identifies and groups alerts with similar characteristics (event type, source IP, target system, severity level) into bundles. Instead of investigating each alert separately, analysts investigate one representative alert per bundle, capturing all necessary details. The system then automatically applies these investigation findings to all bundled alerts, eliminating duplicate time consumption while preserving complete alert detail capture through the bundling metadata.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary grouping and identification of similar alerts before the analyst begins investigation. By pre-bundling alerts based on objective similarity criteria, the system prepares the work in advance, allowing analysts to immediately focus on unique investigation tasks rather than first identifying duplicates. This preliminary action reduces the time analysts would otherwise spend on duplicate investigations.
3Reliability
If all security alerts are processed individually, then comprehensive monitoring is maintained, but analyst workload and stress increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains comprehensive security monitoring by grouping alerts into bundles while preserving all original alert data and characteristics. Analysts review one representative alert per bundle, ensuring complete monitoring coverage, while the system automatically tracks and applies findings across all bundled alerts. This approach significantly reduces analyst workload and stress by eliminating redundant review of identical or similar alerts, while maintaining thorough security oversight.
4Productivity
If alert bundling is implemented, then processing efficiency improves and resource utilization increases, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The alert bundling system is implemented as a modular component that segments the alert processing workflow into distinct phases: alert collection, similarity evaluation, bundling, representative selection, investigation, and result propagation. Each module performs a specific function with well-defined interfaces, making the overall system manageable despite its complexity. The segmentation allows the system to achieve high productivity through automated bundling while keeping each individual component relatively simple and maintainable.
Data Source
AI summary
In some examples, a plurality of alerts relating to issues in a computing arrangement are received, where the plurality of alerts generated based on events in the computing arrangement. A subset of the plurality of alerts is grouped into a bundle of alerts, the grouping being based on a criterion. The bundle of alerts is communicated to cause processing of the alerts in the bundle of alerts together.