Security Operations common functionality

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Security Operations Common Functionality

    The Security Support Common plugin is automatically activated with any main Security Operations applications such as Security Incident Response, Vulnerability Response, Threat Intelligence, or Configuration Compliance. It provides foundational modules and shared functionalities across all Security Operations applications, enhancing integration, data processing, and workflow capabilities. Access to Security Operations modules requires thesnseccmn.adminrole, which is inherited from administrative roles within any Security Operations app.

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    Key Features

    • Integration Reference: Includes pre-built integrations for Security Incident Response, Threat Intelligence, and Vulnerability Response with instructions to activate plugins, configure integrations, and guidelines for creating custom integrations.
    • Email Processing: Enables inbound information integration from external detection systems, handles unmatched emails, prevents duplicate records, and provides granular control of data processing.
    • Filter Groups: Allows creation of groups to filter and locate records across any table, such as grouping computers by manufacturer or filtering configuration items by vulnerabilities or subnet IP ranges.
    • Escalations: Supports creation of escalation paths for security incidents, allowing issues requiring higher attention to be routed to specialized groups, with escalation options appearing on relevant incident records.
    • Security Tags and Tag Groups: Tags can be assigned to incidents, response tasks, vulnerable items, indicators of compromise, and cases to create metadata and define access control for security content.
    • Enrichment Data Mapping: Transforms data from XML, JSON, or Properties files into ServiceNow records, supporting workflows that enrich security incident data.
    • Field Value Transforms: Converts customer-specific field values into standardized values recognized by Security Operations for consistent data parsing, enrichment, and mapping.
    • Field Mapping: Links Security Operations tables with other ServiceNow tables, enabling relationships between security incidents and customer service cases, problems, or other security tasks.
    • On-Demand Orchestration: Allows security analysts to trigger specific tasks (e.g., process dumps on configuration items) directly from incident workflows to aid investigation and response.
    • CMDB CI Identifier Rules: Defines rules to identify configuration items in the CMDB by matching data from third-party integrations, ordered by evaluation precedence.
    • Operating System Groups: Maps operating systems to process types and scripts used in Security Incident Response workflows, enabling customized process retrieval logic.
    • Security Annotations: Provides the ability to add explanatory notes or comments to configuration items, observables, or security incidents for contextual information.
    • Search Functionality: Uses the Zing text indexing engine to enable fast, comprehensive searching across all Security Operations applications.
    • Legacy Workflow Triggers: Supports workflows triggered by specific table conditions to automate processes when conditions are met.
    • Security Operations Orchestration: Facilitates interaction with Windows and UNIX systems through activity packs and workflows, enabling data retrieval and task automation.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Streamlines integration and data ingestion from multiple security tools and external systems to maintain a unified, enriched security operations environment.
    • Enables granular management of security incidents through escalation paths, tagging, and annotations to improve incident handling and collaboration.
    • Provides flexible filtering and grouping capabilities to efficiently organize and analyze assets, vulnerabilities, and security-related data.
    • Facilitates automation and orchestration of investigative tasks directly within security incident workflows, enhancing analyst productivity.
    • Ensures consistent and standardized data formats via enrichment and field value transformation, improving accuracy and interoperability across security modules.
    • Supports domain separation with customizable property overrides to adapt Security Operations functionality across different business units or domains.

    Whenever any of the plugins for the main Security Operations applications (Security Incident Response, Vulnerability Response, Threat Intelligence, or Configuration Compliance) are activated, the Security Support Common plugin is activated. This plugin loads various modules that provide functionality that is common across all Security Operations applications.

    Note:
    Only users with the [sn_sec_cmn.admin] can view and use the Security Operations module. This role is inherited when you are assigned an administrative role in any of the Security Operations applications.

    Security Operations Modules

    Feature Description
    Security Operations Integration Reference, Threat Intelligence integrations, Vulnerability Response integrations Several integrations are included with the Security Operations applications (Security Incident Response, Threat Intelligence, and Vulnerability Response). This section provides instructions for activating the plugins and configuring both ServiceNow and third-party integrations. Also included are some basic guidelines for developing your own integrations, as well as details on specific integrations included in the base system.
    Security Operations email processing You can set up the integration of information from external detection systems, provide granularity in processing security operations records, handle unmatched emails, and prevent duplication of records using Email Processing.
    Groups
    • Filter Groups

      Create and use filter groups to locate records from any table on your instance. For example, you can create a group of all computers by the same manufacturer. You can also filter configuration items (CIs) that have similar vulnerabilities or that fall within a particular subnet IP address range.

    • Escalations

      You can create an escalation path for security incidents for issues requiring more attention or expertise. Once an escalation group exists, a button appears on any security incident in that group.

    Security Tags

    Tags: Security tag rules provide filtering for security tag access.

    Utilities
    • Enrichment Data Mapping

      Enrichment Data Mapping transforms data from XML, JSON, or Properties files to ServiceNow records. Security Operations workflows use enrichment data maps and provide output data to security incidents.

    • Field Value Transforms

      Transforms unique customer field values into field values recognized by Security Operations email parsing, data enrichment or tables using field maps. Supports choice fields, references, and aligns external data into the standard terminology and format for your new record.

    • Field Mapping

      Security Operations tables can be mapped to and from other tables, linking a security incident to a customer service case or a problem to other parts of the Security Operations system. For example, you can integrate a plugin to a Security Incident Response task.

    • On-Demand Orchestration

      During Security Incident Response analysis, a security analyst may want to perform a task that is driven by a security incident workflow. For example, run a process dump on a particular CI. This can be accomplished with on-demand orchestration.

    • Operating Systems Groups

      NA.

    • SecOps Application Registry

      NA.

    CMDB

    CI Identifier Rules: CI identifiers are rules used to lookup a configuration item (CI) in the CMDB that contains matching information from a third-party integration. These rules define the fields that contain matching data and the order of precedence by which they are evaluated. The lowest Order value is evaluated first.