Introduction
SOAR helps MSSPs automate routine security tasks but fails to handle complex investigations, multi-step attack chains, and real-time decision-making. Static playbooks require constant updates and struggle with nuanced threats, leaving analysts to fill in the gaps manually. This article covers how AI SOC analysts go beyond SOAR, automating full investigations, reducing manual workload, and enabling MSSPs to scale efficiently. You’ll learn how AI improves accuracy, integrates seamlessly with existing workflows, and unlocks new business opportunities without increasing operational overhead.
The Limitations of SOAR for MSSPs
Challenges with SOAR Playbooks
SOAR playbooks are built for structured, rule-based workflows. They work well when an action needs to be triggered based on clear conditions, such as blocking an IP after a malware signature is detected. If you can write an activity into your policies, then it’s probably a good candidate for SOAR automation.
However, SOAR and hyperautomation platforms struggle with scenarios that require deeper analysis, where an alert can’t be resolved with a simple "if X, then do Y" rule. Investigations often require looking beyond static rules to understand user behavior, access patterns, and historical activity, which playbooks are not designed to handle.
Another challenge is maintaining SOAR playbooks. Due to constantly evolving threats and client environments, playbooks require frequent updates to stay relevant.
Managing these updates is time-consuming and requires dedicated resources. If a playbook is outdated or doesn’t account for the nuances of a specific environment, it can lead to false positives, missed threats, and wasted analyst time due to the automation failing.
Impact on MSSPs
Managing and maintaining SOAR playbooks at scale takes valuable time, which could be spent improving detection strategies or focusing on proactive security projects that improve security posture.
Playbooks require constant tuning, and as MSSPs add more clients with unique environments, the complexity increases exponentially. This slows operations and makes scaling harder without dedicating more resources to automation management.
SOAR’s limitations also mean analysts must still intervene in more complex investigations, such as those that require looking up and analyzing historical activity to detect anomalies. If an alert doesn’t match a predefined workflow, it is placed in a queue for manual review.
This creates bottlenecks, increases response times, and adds to analyst fatigue. Without automation that can autonomously handle deeper investigative work, MSSPs risk missing real threats or spending too much time on alerts that should have been resolved faster.
AI SOC Analysts: A New Frontier in Alert Investigation Automation
How AI SOC Analysts Go Beyond SOAR Capabilities
If you’ve worked with SOAR, you know its strengths and limits. It’s great for automating routine tasks, but when an alert requires deeper investigation, SOAR playbooks fall short. They rely on fixed decision trees, meaning anything outside those predefined workflows still ends up in your queue.
However, AI SOC analysts don’t just automate pre-defined tasks; they think through investigations like your team would. Instead of stopping at a simple enrichment step, these AI agents follow the same investigative methodology human analysts use, like OSCAR. They pull up logs, check permissions and changes, examine access patterns, review file hashes, analyze payload execution, and simulate follow-ups like interviewing users performing the same detailed steps a human analyst would. This means fewer false escalations and fewer manual investigations interrupting your team’s time.
Advantages for MSSPs
You deal with alerts that don’t always fit into a predictable pattern. AI SOC analysts handle those cases automatically. They analyze complex, low-frequency alerts that SOAR can’t process, performing investigative steps that go beyond basic enrichment, such as:
- Pulling data from SIEMs and security tools to gather logs and relevant telemetry.
- Checking user authentication patterns to detect unusual or suspicious activity.
- Investigating recent changes to user accounts or permissions for signs of privilege misuse.
- Tracing process trees to identify and analyze malicious execution attempts.
- Validating file hashes against threat intelligence feeds to confirm known threats.
- Looking up domain and IP reputations to assess potential malicious connections.
AI SOC analysts deliver structured, in-depth reports so your team gets the necessary context before deciding to escalate an alert to a client. No more chasing down missing details or manually pulling logs from multiple platforms. Every investigation includes past user behavior, correlation with similar events, and a clear summary of what happened, why it matters, and what action to take. This speeds up your response time and gives your clients the confidence that every alert is handled thoroughly.
Use Cases
Dropzone AI has a number of MSSP customers that rely on our AI SOC analysts to handle repetitive, routine alerts, especially phishing alerts and suspicious login alerts.
Let’s say you receive an Okta alert for a suspicious login. With SOAR, you might enrich the alert with geolocation and threat intel, but if it still looks suspicious, an analyst has to dig further. An AI SOC analyst handles the full investigation for you. It retrieves firewall logs, endpoint telemetry, and identity data, checking whether this login is part of a larger attack.
Instead of escalating an incomplete case, AI provides a fully documented analysis, identifying whether this is a one-off anomaly or part of an active threat. Your analysts can then confidently take action immediately. See exactly how this works in our Okta Alert Investigation product tour.
Business Impact of AI-Driven Alert Automation
Scalability Without Compromising Quality
You're constantly handling more alerts, but scaling your team at the same rate isn’t always realistic. AI SOC analysts let you take on higher alert volumes without adding more staff, keeping your services responsive and efficient. Instead of stretching your team thin, AI works alongside them, triaging alerts, analyzing patterns, and freeing your human staff to focus on tasks that require human judgement.
Agentic AI also supports your 24/7 SOC coverage without the staffing headaches. Whether dealing with global clients or operating across multiple time zones, AI SOC analysts investigate every alert immediately. There are no delays or gaps; continuous, thorough analysis helps you meet SLAs and protect clients.
Enhanced Service Offerings
Managing security across different client environments is no small task. You need to support a mix of SIEMs, EDRs, and cloud security tools, each with its investigation workflow. AI SOC analysts are pre-trained to expertly use a wide variety of security tools. They can adapt to these environments, pulling data from multiple sources, correlating findings, and presenting a clear picture no matter which tools your clients use.
AI also retains context, remembering client-specific details that would otherwise require constant manual effort. It tracks past investigations, login behaviors, and recurring security events, using that data to improve accuracy over time. This means consistent service quality, whether you're managing ten clients or a hundred. AI doesn’t get overwhelmed—it delivers the same thoroughness every time.
Cost Efficiency and Profitability
Hiring and training analysts is expensive, and many MSSPs offering MDR services struggle with high analyst turnover. AI SOC analysts reduce that burden by automating the labor-intensive, repetitive work that typically leads to analyst stress and burnout. Instead of spending hours on routine triage, your analysts can focus on more impactful investigations and client-facing tasks.
This shift directly improves your margins. With AI covering investigations, you can scale your Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services without increasing operational costs. Your team gets to focus on higher-value engagements like pentesting and proactive threat hunting, strengthening your offerings while controlling overhead.
Conclusion
Scaling your MSSP while maintaining high-quality service is challenging, especially when SOAR playbooks struggle with complex investigations. AI SOC analysts automate multi-step investigations, dig deep to gather context and answer questions, and deliver structured reports, reducing manual workload while improving response accuracy. With AI handling alert investigations, your team can focus on proactive security measures, reduce operational costs, and expand services without overloading analysts. If you want to learn more about how Dropzone AI can enhance your SOC’s efficiency and service delivery, download our MSSP solution brief.
FAQ
1. How do AI SOC analysts help MSSPs scale without overloading their teams?
AI SOC analysts automate alert investigations, reducing manual triage and escalations. This allows your team to handle more clients without linear staffing increases, and frees analysts to focus on client service.
2. Why isn’t SOAR enough for MSSPs?
SOAR handles simple, rule-based tasks but struggles with complex investigations. AI SOC analysts go further by analyzing context, connecting data, and delivering ready-to-use reports without needing to update any playbook.
3. How do AI SOC analysts improve service quality for MSSPs?
AI SOC analysts ensure consistent, thorough investigations across all clients. They remember client-specific environments, investigate historical context and other context, and deliver detailed reports so clients can get faster, clearer insights.
4. What’s the business impact of AI-driven alert investigation?
AI SOC analysts cut costs, reduce manual work, and help MSSPs gain more clients. They enable scalable, high-quality MDR services, boosting efficiency, profit, and customer trust.
