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---
name: implementing-incident-automation-framework
description: >-
  Design and deploy automation frameworks that orchestrate incident response
  workflows, integrate with ticketing systems, and reduce mean time to
  containment through playbook-driven automated actions.
domain: cybersecurity
subdomain: incident-management
tags:
  - incident-automation
  - soar
  - playbook
  - orchestration
  - workflow-engine
version: "1.0"
author: defconxt
license: AGPL-3.0
metadata:
  mitre-attack: ["TA0040", "TA0011"]
  nist-csf: ["RS.RP-1", "RS.MI-1", "RS.MI-2"]
  frameworks: ["NIST SP 800-61", "SOAR Reference Architecture"]
---

# Implementing Incident Automation Framework

## Overview

Incident automation frameworks reduce MTTC by replacing manual triage and
containment steps with orchestrated playbooks. A well-designed framework
integrates ticketing (Jira, ServiceNow), alerting (PagerDuty, Opsgenie),
SIEM (Splunk, Elastic), and communication (Slack, Teams) into a unified
response pipeline.

## Prerequisites

| Requirement | Purpose |
|---|---|
| SOAR platform or workflow engine | Orchestration runtime (Shuffle, Tines, n8n) |
| API credentials for integrations | Ticketing, SIEM, alerting, chat |
| Incident classification taxonomy | Severity levels and response tiers |
| Playbook library | Documented procedures to automate |

## Key Concepts

### Automation Architecture

```
┌─────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐
│  Alert Source│────▶│ Ingestion    │────▶│ Classification   │
│  (SIEM/EDR) │     │ Normalizer   │     │ Engine           │
└─────────────┘     └──────────────┘     └────────┬─────────┘
                                                   │
                    ┌──────────────┐     ┌─────────▼─────────┐
                    │ Notification │◀────│ Playbook Router    │
                    │ Dispatcher   │     │ (severity → action)│
                    └──────────────┘     └────────┬──────────┘
                                                   │
                    ┌──────────────┐     ┌─────────▼─────────┐
                    │ Audit Logger │◀────│ Action Executor    │
                    │              │     │ (contain/enrich)   │
                    └──────────────┘     └───────────────────┘
```

### Playbook Structure

```yaml
playbook:
  name: phishing-response
  trigger:
    source: siem
    rule: "phishing_email_detected"
    severity: [high, critical]
  steps:
    - action: enrich_ioc
      input: "{{alert.indicators}}"
      provider: virustotal
    - action: isolate_endpoint
      condition: "enrichment.malicious == true"
      provider: crowdstrike
      input: "{{alert.hostname}}"
    - action: disable_user
      condition: "enrichment.credential_harvesting == true"
      provider: active_directory
      input: "{{alert.user}}"
    - action: create_ticket
      provider: jira
      input:
        project: SEC
        type: Incident
        severity: "{{alert.severity}}"
    - action: notify
      provider: slack
      channel: "#incident-response"
```

### Integration Categories

| Category | Tools | Purpose |
|----------|-------|---------|
| Alerting | PagerDuty, Opsgenie | On-call escalation |
| Ticketing | Jira, ServiceNow | Incident tracking |
| SIEM | Splunk, Elastic, Sentinel | Alert source |
| EDR | CrowdStrike, SentinelOne | Endpoint containment |
| Identity | Azure AD, Okta | User isolation |
| Communication | Slack, Teams | Response coordination |

## Workflow

1. Define incident classification taxonomy (severity × type)
2. Map each category to a response playbook
3. Build integration connectors for each tool in the stack
4. Implement alert ingestion and normalization pipeline
5. Create playbook definitions with conditional logic
6. Test playbooks with synthetic alerts in staging
7. Deploy with manual approval gates for destructive actions
8. Monitor execution metrics and tune false positive handling

```bash
# Test playbook execution with dry-run
node agent.js execute --playbook phishing-response \
  --alert-json '{"type":"phishing","severity":"high","hostname":"WS-042"}' \
  --dry-run

# List registered playbooks
node agent.js list-playbooks

# Check integration health
node agent.js check-integrations
```

## Verification

- [ ] Playbooks execute end-to-end in staging without errors
- [ ] Alert-to-ticket creation latency < 30 seconds
- [ ] Destructive actions require approval gate
- [ ] All playbook executions logged with full audit trail
- [ ] Integration health checks pass for all connectors

## References

- NIST SP 800-61 Rev. 2 — Computer Security Incident Handling Guide
- MITRE ATT&CK Framework — https://attack.mitre.org/
- NIST SP 800-61
