Prophet Security survey finds AI use rising in SOCs

Prophet Security’s State of AI in Security Operations 2026 reports that 40% of security teams now use AI daily and a further 56% are testing it, based on a survey of more than 250 CISOs, SOC leaders and practitioners. The piece explains AI readiness for a SOC in two parts: whether the SOC faces problems AI agents are built to tackle, and whether it has the data access, context, written standards and oversight needed for accurate investigation.

It notes that a SOC does not need to be fully mature to be ready, since AI agents tend to begin at alert handling and can free analyst time for higher layers of the process. The article stresses that an AI agent can only investigate what it can query, so readiness hinges on API access to SIEM, EDR, identity providers, cloud platforms, email and key SaaS apps; on the agent’s read permissions and context (asset criticality, user roles, VIP lists, known benign activity); and on healthy data pipelines.

The piece maps readiness to Prophet Security’s five‑level SOC maturity model—alert management, detection coverage, threat awareness, proactive hunting and posture improvements—and provides concrete readiness checks. Part 1 asks whether escalations arrive hours after activity, whether context is lacking in returned alerts, whether alerts are closed without showing work, and whether non‑covered tools funnel into the team.

Part 2 asks whether a tool can query required sources via API, whether essential context is recordable, whether a written investigation standard exists, and whether there are defined rules and ownership for expanding agent autonomy. The article cites a rising in Cyber 2026 and cites the 75‑minute average investigation time, plus 60% of respondents reporting that ignored or missed alerts later became serious issues, to illustrate practical benchmarks for pilots and deployment.