It positive is a tough time to be a SOC analyst.
Day-after-day, they’re anticipated to resolve high-consequence issues with half the information and twice the stress. Analysts are overwhelmed—not simply by threats, however by the methods and processes in place that should assist them reply. Tooling is fragmented. Workflows are heavy. Context lives in 5 locations, and alerts by no means decelerate. What began as a fast-paced, high-impact position has, for a lot of analysts, turn into a repetitive loop of alert triage and information wrangling that provides little room for technique or development.
Most SOC groups additionally run lean. Final yr, our annual SANS SOC Survey discovered {that a} majority of SOCs solely include simply 2–10 full-time analysts, a quantity unchanged because the survey started monitoring in 2017. In the meantime, the scope of protection has exploded, starting from on-prem infrastructure to cloud environments, distant endpoints, SaaS platforms, and past. Compounded at scale, this has led to systemic burnout throughout SOC environments—a reliable enterprise danger that hinders your group’s means to defend itself.
Addressing the problem is not a matter of merely growing headcount. The longer we deal with burnout as a folks downside, the longer we ignore what’s actually going fallacious contained in the SOC. The problem at hand calls for a shift in how SOC work is designed and executed, in addition to how analysts are positioned for achievement.
Enter synthetic intelligence (AI). AI implementation at scale gives a sensible path ahead right here by optimizing components of the job that push analysts towards the door: the repetitive steps, the cognitive overhead, and the dearth of seen progress. From streamlining inefficient workflows and supporting talent improvement to facilitating extra impactful team-wide oversight, AI can open wider avenues for making SOC work extra sustainable.
Decreasing Alert Fatigue and Repetitive Load with Smarter Automation
A relentless stream of low-context alerts is among the quickest methods to empty a SOC workforce. Within the SANS SOC Survey, 38% of organizations reported ingesting all obtainable information into their SIEM. Whereas which will increase visibility, it additionally floods analysts with low-priority noise. And with out robust correlation logic or cross-platform integration, assembling a full image nonetheless falls on the analyst. They’re left chasing indicators throughout disjointed methods, piecing collectively context manually, and deciding whether or not escalation is even mandatory. It is inefficient, exhausting, and unsustainable.
SOC groups have been automating duties for years, however most of that automation has relied on brittle logic like inflexible playbooks and static SOAR flows that break down as quickly because the state of affairs deviates from the anticipated. AI modifications that. AI-powered automation can relieve that stress by performing as a uniquely highly effective contextual aggregator and investigative assistant. When paired with capabilities like these enabled by the brand new Mannequin Context Protocol (MCP), language fashions can combine telemetry, menace intelligence, asset metadata, and person historical past right into a single view, tailoring it to every distinctive scenario the analyst faces. This provides analysts enriched, case-specific summaries as a substitute of uncooked occasions. Readability replaces guesswork. Response selections occur quicker and with higher confidence—two issues that immediately cut back burnout.
The important thing right here is that, in contrast to SOAR, AI permits adaptive automation and even makes it simply accessible by way of an LLM interface. With AI brokers and new requirements like MCP and Agent2Agent protocol, a future is now right here the place analysts can describe what must occur in plain language, and the system can dynamically construct the automation, deciding which duties should be carried out and one of the best ways to finish them. Whether or not it is retrieving information, correlating indicators, or coordinating a response, AI can alter in actual time based mostly on context. That flexibility issues, particularly when investigation paths aren’t all the time clear or linear.
Constructing Analyst Confidence By Smarter Suggestions
Burnout would not solely come from lengthy hours. Generally it stems from stagnation—doing the identical work with out rising or getting significant suggestions. If an analyst would not see progress, frustration takes root rapidly. That is an space the place AI can provide actual assist. It permits analysts to refine their very own work on the fly—tuning detection logic, troubleshooting false positives, and producing higher queries with quick, focused solutions. Actual-time suggestions like that is particularly priceless for newer analysts, however even skilled workforce members profit from the power to pressure-test their method with out ready for peer assessment.
These interactions assist what researchers name deliberate observe: centered repetition paired with speedy, actionable suggestions. That’s value its weight in gold in relation to retention. In line with the SANS SOC Survey, “significant work” and “profession development” have been ranked as the highest two elements in analyst retention—above compensation. Groups that embed development into the day-to-day workflow usually tend to maintain their folks. AI cannot change human mentorship, however it may possibly assist replicate a few of its most significant results at scale.
Serving to SOC Leaders Handle and Strengthen Their Groups
SOC leaders have a direct affect on decreasing burnout. Nonetheless, an absence of time and visibility is usually their largest impediment for making a constructive affect. Efficiency information equivalent to case load, be aware high quality, investigation depth, and response occasions is scattered throughout platforms and investigations. And not using a strategy to synthesize it, managers are left guessing who’s struggling and why.
AI makes that evaluation attainable. With entry to case administration and workflow information, fashions can floor efficiency developments: which analysts persistently deal with sure menace sorts properly, the place errors cluster, or when high quality is beginning to dip. That perception permits managers to teach extra successfully and assign work based mostly on functionality, not simply availability. It additionally provides them the prospect to intervene early. Burnout would not announce itself. It builds slowly, usually out of sight. However with the precise indicators—flagging overload, recognizing talent gaps, noticing drop-offs in case high quality—leaders can take motion earlier than issues turn into exits.
Over time, that form of focused assist reshapes workforce tradition. Efficiency improves, retention stabilizes, and analysts usually tend to keep and develop in roles the place they really feel seen, supported, and set as much as succeed.
Let’s Proceed the Dialog at SANS Community Safety 2025
SOC burnout not often reveals up suddenly. It builds by repetition with out studying, stress with out progress, and energy with out affect. AI will not take away each stressor within the SOC, however it may possibly assist alleviate friction the place it issues most.
If this matter resonates, be part of me at SANS Community Safety 2025 this September in Las Vegas. I will be main classes on constructing more healthy, more practical SOCs—together with learn how to apply AI to scale back burnout, streamline workflows, and assist analyst development in real-world environments.
Register for SANS Community Safety 2025 (Sept. 22-27, 2025) right here.
Word: This text was expertly written and contributed by John Hubbard, SANS Senior Teacher. Be taught extra about his background and programs right here.
Word: This text was written and contributed by John Hubbard, Senior Teacher on the SANS Institute.
