You’re fired! (not quite) - how to thrive in a security operations career in the age of AI

With the advent of AI coming through hard and fast, there is a fair amount of anxiety amongst us humans that we will soon end up losing our jobs to AI. Many AI vendors are quick to assure us that our jobs are safe, and all we need is to uplift our skill sets to take control of AI. But how do we do that in the Security Operations domain?

Let’s unpack further. With the arrival of SOAR technology a few years ago, the technology (when configured properly) promises and subsequently delivers a fair number of efficiencies for Tier 1 and Tier 2 analyst tasks. Notably reliving analysts of mundane tasks such as triaging and human errors due to alert fatigue. 

With the introduction of AI technology, it is a force multiplier on traditional SOAR and SIEM technologies. Advancement of static rulesets into adaptive approach ensures that new and zero-day threats are now detected. Reduction of time taken to analyse incidents, events, and generate reports. Negates the need to learn programing and query language with natural language commands. Arguably the best benefit of all is the reduction of false positives that lowers stress and anxiety, which in turn promotes talent retention. 

Paradox: Talent Retention? All these features and advancements surely would leave most tasks and therefore roles redundant! Not quite. AI without human validation and governance run the risk of going rogue. The benefits of AI are undeniable. However, using AI, especially Autonomous and Agentic AI, inadvertently introduces a whole new paradigm of security risks. 

Learning and mastering governance and operational frameworks over AI is key to reducing these risks. Enabling the Tier 1 and Tier 2 analysts moving upwards to the value chain and thriving in Security Operations. 

Through a series of workshops and interviews with security operation experts, this presentation summarises their views and experiences. Real human SOC analysts on mastering and driving governance through ISO42001 and NIST AI RMF. Not only enforcing the relevance of humans but promotes thriving with AI.