Agentic Workflow for Automated VPN Session Termination and Access Revocation

This workflow automates the critical but time-sensitive response to compromised remote access. Upon a validated trigger—like a malware detection on an endpoint or a suspicious login from a high-risk geography—specialized agents orchestrate immediate session termination across VPN concentrators (Cisco, Palo Alto) and revoke associated certificates in the IAM system. This eliminates the manual, error-prone process of hunting for active sessions across consoles, reducing the attacker's dwell time from hours to seconds and directly shrinking the incident's blast radius.

Implementation requires integrating the orchestrator (e.g., LangGraph) with real-time alert feeds, VPN management APIs, and directory services. The architecture must include approval gates for mass revocation, exception routing for critical service accounts, and immutable logging for audit. This creates a production-grade, automated playbook that standardizes containment, reduces mean time to respond (MTTR), and operationalizes a key security control without replacing existing infrastructure.

This workflow directly reduces the blast radius and dwell time of a credential-based breach. Upon receiving a validated alert of a compromised user or device, specialized agents execute a sequenced containment playbook: terminating active VPN sessions on concentrators (Cisco, Palo Alto), revoking certificates in the PKI, and disabling IAM access in directories like Active Directory or Okta. The operational upside comes from executing these cross-system actions in seconds versus manual, error-prone hours, preventing lateral movement and data exfiltration.

Implementation requires a central orchestrator, like a custom LangGraph or Python service, to manage conditional logic, error handling, and rollback procedures. Agents are built as secure, containerized services with API integrations for each target system. Critical controls include pre-defined approval gates for high-risk accounts, real-time observability dashboards, and immediate human-override capabilities. The architecture must handle exceptions like API failures by routing to a human queue while maintaining an immutable audit trail of all automated actions.

This workflow automates the critical first minutes of a remote access breach by programmatically severing an attacker's foothold. Upon a validated alert from your SIEM or EDR, an orchestrator agent triggers parallel API calls to terminate all active VPN sessions for the compromised user or device across concentrators like Cisco AnyConnect or Palo Alto GlobalProtect. Simultaneously, it revokes associated certificates in your PKI and disables the user object in Active Directory or Okta. The operational upside is a reduction in attacker dwell time from hours to seconds, directly shrinking the blast radius and limiting data exfiltration or lateral movement risk.

Implementation follows a phased, risk-controlled model. Phase 1 builds the core orchestration logic using a framework like LangGraph, integrating with a single VPN and IAM system in a dry-run mode. Phase 2 introduces mandatory human-in-the-loop approval gates via ServiceNow for production, with automated rollback scripts. The final phase adds multi-vendor support, real-time observability dashboards, and integrates the workflow into broader SOAR playbooks. This approach ensures governance, allows for exception handling for critical systems, and delivers measurable ROI through reduced MTTR and manual SOC effort.

This workflow automates the critical but time-sensitive response to a confirmed credential or device compromise, where manual intervention is too slow. The operational upside comes from drastically reducing the attacker's dwell time and lateral movement potential, directly lowering breach impact and containment costs. Implementation integrates with VPN concentrators (Cisco, Palo Alto) and IAM systems (Okta, Azure AD) via APIs, using an orchestrator to sequence actions, enforce approval gates, and log every step for audit.

Governance is enforced through configurable approval gates before mass revocation, exception routing for VIP or service accounts, and real-time observability dashboards. Rollout requires phased integration, starting with non-critical environments, and includes robust rollback procedures to restore access if a false positive is identified. The architecture must handle API failures gracefully, with manual override capabilities maintained for safety-critical network segments.