The Great Security Automation Trap: Why Your Dashboard is Lying to You

You're a fast-growing company.

Your sales team is getting hammered with security questionnaires.

Your tech team is drowning in compliance requirements.

Then along comes a shiny platform promising to make it all better. "Automate your compliance!" they say. "Real-time security dashboards!" they promise. "Push-button certification!"

And just like that, you're sold. Because surely automating a process you don't fully understand will make everything better, right?

Narrator: It did not make everything better.

Why We're Getting It Wrong

Here's the uncomfortable truth: Most companies are approaching security automation backwards. They're trying to automate processes they haven't mastered manually, using tools they don't fully understand, to generate reports they can't properly interpret.

It's like buying a robot to cook your meals when you don't know the difference between a whisk and a spatula. Sure, you might end up with something that looks like food, but I wouldn't recommend eating it.

The Common Pattern:

1. Get overwhelmed by compliance requirements
2. Buy fancy automation platform
3. Configure ALL THE THINGS
4. Watch pretty graphs go up and to the right
5. Wonder why you failed your audit

The Automation Paradox

Automation, when done right, is genuinely valuable.

But here's the catch: Good automation amplifies good processes. Bad automation just helps you make mistakes faster.

Think of it this way: If you automate a broken process, all you've done is industrialise failure.

Signs You're Not Ready for Automation:

• You can't explain your security controls
• Your idea of risk assessment is copying someone else's template
• You think "control effectiveness" means the dashboard is showing green
• Your security policies are longer than your company's business plan
• You have more automated alerts than you have employees

Understanding Before Automating

Before you punch in your company credit card details for that slick compliance platform, ask yourself:

1. Do we actually understand what we're trying to protect?
2. Can we articulate our security risks without looking at a template?
3. Do we know what "good" looks like for our specific context?
4. Could we explain our security controls to a five-year-old? (Or more challengingly, to the CEO?)

The Right Way Forward

So what's the solution? Start with understanding, then move to automation. Here's how:

Phase 1: Learn Your Business

• Map out what actually matters to your company
• Understand your real security risks (not the ones a tool tells you about)
• Figure out what "secure" means in your context
• Document your current processes

Phase 2: Build Manual Processes

• Create controls that make sense for your business
• Test them with actual humans
• Refine based on feedback
• Document what actually works (not what you wish worked)

Phase 3: Selective Automation

• Automate the stable, well-understood processes first
• Start small and measure effectiveness
• Keep humans in the loop for decision-making
• Build in reality checks

The Automation Sweet Spot

Good security automation should:

• Support your existing processes, not replace your thinking
• Generate insights, not just metrics
• Reduce manual work, not eliminate human oversight
• Make the right thing easier to do than the wrong thing

The Cart Before the Horse: Why Certification Comes First

Here's a radical thought: Get certified before you buy that shiny automation platform.

I know, I know. It's terribly old-fashioned of us to suggest doing things manually first. Next, we'll be recommending you use carrier pigeons for your data transfers. (Though to be fair, they do have excellent uptime and are remarkably resistant to cyber attacks.)

But here's why this seemingly backwards approach makes sense:

• Getting certified forces you to understand your security landscape properly
• You'll learn what controls actually matter for your business
• You'll discover which processes are worth automating (and which ones aren't)
• You'll develop the expertise needed to evaluate automation tools effectively
• You won't waste money automating the wrong things

Think of it like learning to drive: You master the basics in a manual car before stepping into a Tesla with Autopilot. Otherwise, you're just a danger to yourself and others, albeit with a very impressive dashboard.

In Conclusion: The Human Element

Remember: Security isn't about having the prettiest dashboard or the most automated processes. It's about protecting your business effectively. Sometimes that means embracing automation, and sometimes it means admitting that a human needs to actually think about something.

After all, if security was just about ticking boxes, we could all go home and let the robots handle it. And while that might sound appealing (especially on a Monday morning), the reality is that good security requires both human intelligence and technological assistance.

So before you automate, make sure you understand.

Your future self (and your security auditor) will thank you.

Ready to get started? Book a call.

On the fence?

Download our free guide:

A Slightly Different Guide to ISO 27001 - (Nearly) Everything Startups & Scaleups Need to Know About Getting Certified

DON'T PANIC