AI Adoption is Driving SOC Role Reallocation Without Cutting Headcount – Source: www.infosecurity-magazine.com

Most organizations plan to reallocate security operations center (SOC) roles as a result of broader AI adoption in these teams, according to new research by Abnormal AI.

The survey found that 96% of security leaders have no plans to reduce the headcount in SOC teams amid growing utilization of AI. Instead, they are looking to reallocate professionals to higher-value activities.

The findings suggest that AI is likely to enhance the role of security professionals working in SOCs, rather than remove jobs.

Nearly half (44%) revealed they are developing plans to migrate Tier 1 SOC analysts to more senior Tier 2-3 roles.

“Organizations are seeing a clear path forward—one where AI helps scale security operations without requiring a proportional increase in headcount. This would be a major win. Few, if any, leaders or analysts, believe the SOC can, or should, operate with fewer people,” the researchers noted.

These most common roles where leaders would like to see SOC analysts allocated to are:

• Incident response and remediation (45%)
• Threat hunting/advanced investigation (42%)
• Proactive security measures (41%)
• Security training and mentorships for junior analysts (40%)
• Compliance/auditing (34%)

The report, published on July 22, also found that 57% of security leaders believe there is a need to create new roles or specialized positions within the SOC for AI management.

In addition, 43% believe AI means there must be a complete rethinking of the structure and staffing of the SOC.

AI’s Emerging Role in the SOC

The immediate goal around AI implementation in SOCs appears to be to help relieve analysts of repetitive tasks, such as alert triage.

The top three challenges cited by analysts in completing their SOC tasks were alert fatigue (49%), overwhelming workload (44%) and inability to automate repetitive tasks (38%).

Additionally, 73% of analysts said that manual or reactive tasks are stalling their career growth.

AI is beginning to make an impact in addressing such challenges. Three quarters (75%) of analysts use AI at least weekly to support their common tasks, while 35% already use AI tools daily.

Three quarters (75%) of analysts surveyed reported that the adoption of AI tools is already improving their job satisfaction.

Around two-thirds (63%) reported that AI is improving investigation accuracy, while 60% said it has enabled them to focus on strategic decision-making.

For the study, Omdia surveyed 491 cybersecurity professionals, 65% of which were in leadership positions and 35% of whom were security analysts.