The year of agents: Achieving machine-speed defence in the modern SOC

For years, the SOC has been defined by a significant imbalance: threat actors move at machine speed, while defenders are limited to human-speed execution. Historically, organisations have addressed this by adding band-aids such as more tools and manual triage layers. This has led to persistent burnout and fragmented visibility. Recent industry data reveals that AI-driven attacks can now move from initial compromise to meaningful system impact in as little as 11 minutes. This shrinking response window makes traditional manual playbooks mathematically impossible to maintain.

The conversation is rapidly shifting from AI exploration to the practical execution of autonomous defence. This session explores the evolution of the AI-enabled SOC, focusing on the architectural and strategic shifts required to build resilient, automated operations. We will examine how the convergence of observability and security data, which both rely on identifying anomalies in the same underlying telemetry, provides the holistic context necessary for AI to function effectively in a real-world environment.

This talk will cover the conundrum of modern AI adoption: the pressure to leverage autonomous technology while underlying systems, particularly identity and access controls, remain in a state of transition. We will discuss the necessity of grounding AI in organisational telemetry to eliminate hallucinations and the shift towards behaviour-based models that identify normal to flag deviations automatically. We will also talk about the human side of the AI-enabled SOC and helping the team make the transition to the new world of AI.

As we unpack the strategic evolution of the SOC, we’ll explore why identity has become the new control plane for autonomous agents. Attendees will learn how to treat agents as new organisational assets and balance the need for operational speed with the implementation of programmatic guardrails and human-in-the-loop oversight. The objective is to move from manual, reactive processes to an autonomous defence posture capable of matching the speed of the modern adversary.