Restoring SOC Team Confidence Amid Waves of False Positives

Imagine you’re a performer at a circus. You’re juggling balls, pins, torches, and the occasional chainsaw, all while blindfolded. Shouts from the crowd are coming from every direction, and new objects keep getting tossed in without notice. You’re juggling as much as you can, but eventually, something’s bound to fall, and it could be the chainsaw. This scenario captures the reality of many modern Security Operations Center (SOCs) teams trying to manage threat detection with outdated tools.

According to Vectra AI’s 2024 State of Threat Detection report, SOCs are stretched thin, worn out, and increasingly frustrated as SOC professionals are expressing dissatisfaction with their current threat detection tools. What was meant to be a reliable security stack has turned into an overwhelming, noisy system that often hinders more than it helps. This has led to not only a breakdown in tools but also a breakdown in SOC team trust. 

The Growing Issue of SOC Fatigue

SOC teams are burnt out and overwhelmed by an endless stream of alerts, posing a growing threat to organizations. Due to the mass of alerts, 71% of SOC professionals worry about missing a real attack. Even more concerning, 62% of these alerts are ignored outright because teams simply don’t have the capacity to manage them all. 

Many of these teams are juggling 20+ different tools, but it’s not that simple – “more tools” does not mean “more secure.” For most SOCs, the number of tools is overwhelming, resulting in added complexity, extra manual effort, and more missed threats. Teams are left scrambling to fine-tune systems and prioritize alerts without clear direction. 

Balancing Precision vs Recall 

The problem (and solution) lies in a delicate balance: achieving comprehensive visibility without overloading SOC teams with data. Many tools aim to flag every potential threat to ensure nothing is missed. However, this approach fuels alert fatigue, burying SOC teams and increasing the risk of overlooking genuine attacks amidst false positives while leading to frustration and burnout. 

This is a perfect example of the precision vs. recall dilemma. Tools that prioritize recall aim to catch every possible threat, generating an overwhelming number of alerts to ensure nothing slips through the cracks. The trade-off? An excess of false positives and a frustrated SOC team. On the other hand, tools that focus on precision produce fewer, more accurate alerts but risk overlooking stealthy, low-and-slow attacks hidden within the noise. Finding the right balance between the two is where the challenge lies.

Tools must detect threats while also showing teams exactly how and why those threats were flagged. SOC teams should be given full visibility into the detection and response process so that they know where each signal is coming from, why it’s important, and how to respond. 

Turning Actionable Insights Into Reduced Workloads 

There is a silver lining, though. 75% of SOC professionals using AI tools have seen a significant reduction in their workload. Modern detection tools should unify real-time data from an entire attack surface with AI-powered analysis, enabling SOC teams to shift their focus from sorting through false alarms to responding to real threats. Instead of SOC analysts spending hours combing through a thousand emails to find the one that matters, modern tools should bring those critical messages straight to the top of the inbox. 

89% of SOC teams plan to invest in more AI-powered tools over the next year, but these investments need to be made into tools that deliver on their promises and provide actionable insights and customized solutions tailored to each SOC’s needs.

The Path to Restoring Trust 

In today’s complex cyber landscape, SOC teams aren’t asking for more tools; they’re looking for control. They require a platform and tools that integrate effortlessly, cut through the noise, and deliver actionable, explainable AI-driven insights that truly make a difference.

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