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Parallel Step Executions: Accelerating SecOps
Parallel Step Executions: Accelerating SecOps

Learn how to concurrently execute multiple processes in your workflows, enhancing efficiency and saving time.

Updated over a week ago

Enhance the efficiency of your security operations by executing several processes at once. For instance, when investigating an incident, you'll want to enrich indicators using multiple vendors at the same time.

Running Steps in Parallel

Drag a step and drop it over another step to create a parallel branch. A branch can consist of a single step or an entire logic pattern (set of steps).

The parallel branches are executed concurrently during the workflow run.

The execution of all parallel branches has to be completed for the workflow to continue.

How to run steps in parallel

Example: Enrich a Suspicious IP address

Instead of sending indicators to a single threat intel vendor at a time, you can run parallel enrichments.

Running steps concurrently will reduce total execution time, which will vary depending on whatever the "slowest" branch is.

Create Parallel Branches

Drag a step and drop it on the step you want to run in parallel. You can create as many branches as needed.

Dropping a step on another one to create a parallel branch.

Getting Information as It Comes

In this example, a Slack message that summarizes the information received from a vendor is sent immediately after the vendor data is returned. You will get Slack messages as the information from the vendors becomes available, in an unknown order.

Slack message with data from parallel execution.

Using the Information Gathered

The steps following the parallel branches will be executed only after all branches finish executing.

All subsequent steps in the workflow can access the output from the parallel branches.

In this example, the Exit step provides a summary of the information received from all threat intel vendors.

Accessing output from the parallel branches in a later step

Things to Remember

  • When a step executed in a parallel branch fails, the workflow will fail. If you want to ignore the failure of a step, go to the step Execution Options > Ignore failure and set it to Yes.​

  • You can't use a break operator when a loop contains parallel branches. The Break operator should only be used in the same branch as the loop it's being used for.

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