By: Ushi Heffernan, Co-Founder & Lead Security Engineer/Consultant, HackerHaus Security Solutions.
I can’t click a Cherry Blue on my gorgeous Frozen Llama Keyboard these days without seeing a product being hyped for its AI capabilities. Information security is no exception. But honestly? AI is transforming incident response in ways that go beyond the hype. It’s about efficiency, accuracy, and most importantly, saving time and resources to get the best outcome.
Let me back up a second.
Traditional incident response methods? Well, they’re like finding a needle in a haystack—only to realize there are a thousand haystacks because … Alerts. Are. Everywhere. Security Operation Center (SOC) analysts are out there battling alert fatigue daily, often missing critical incidents because there is just too much noise to sift through.
This is a massive problem. Delayed response times mean attackers can move deeper into your network, causing more damage—and inevitably, costing big bucks.
Here’s where AI comes in and takes the wheel.
The Problem: Traditional Incident Response is Slow and Inconsistent
In a traditional SOC, your team manually triages thousands of alerts, many of which turn out to be false positives. Between filtering through alerts, conducting root cause analysis, and actually responding, incidents can go unnoticed for hours. In worst-case scenarios, attackers can spend hours—even days—moving through your systems undetected.
The AI-Powered Solution: Faster Detection and Triage
Ok, let’s talk AI.
The significant advantage AI brings to the table is speed. While our human SOC team is reading through alerts and mentally deciding on the next logical steps, AI is already doing its thing—triaging alerts, identifying anomalies, and prioritizing incidents that actually need attention. AI-powered incident response tools detect and categorize threats in real time, slashing the time it takes to identify serious issues.
In the time it takes your analyst to read through a single alert, AI tools will have triaged, started gathering evidence, analyzed logs, made a decision, and created a report.
But it’s not just about faster detection. AI like Intezer’s Autonomous SOC handles all the initial legwork for the first stages of incident response. They can determine whether an alert is a legitimate threat, correlate it with known attack patterns, and decide if your SOC team even needs to get involved.
Case Study: How Intezer Automates the Response Process
Intezer has built a system that takes on the work of a Tier 1 SOC analyst, making things a whole lot easier for human teams. Their Autonomous SOC platform automates everything from sorting through alerts to managing incident response.
The stats are pretty awesome: Intezer automatically resolves 97% of false positives and triages alerts in about two minutes, saving your team valuable time and resources.
One of their clients reportedly saved over 2,500 hours annually by using Intezer to triage alerts, allowing analysts to focus on the real threats.
This is insane!! Imagine AI handling all the noise while your human team tackles the complex, critical incidents that truly matter!
But what’s even more impressive is that Intezer’s AI doesn’t just stop at flagging alerts. It provides a full breakdown of what triggered the alert, whether it’s connected to known malware, and even recommends remediation actions—with reasoning! It’s like having a seasoned SOC analyst on autopilot.
AI and Incident Containment
So, you detect a real threat—now what?
This is where the magic happens! AI doesn’t just sit around waiting for someone to hit the big red button. Intezer’s platform can take action, isolating infected devices, blocking malicious IPs, and stopping attackers from moving deeper into your network—sometimes before the team finishes their morning meeting.
This real-time response capability is a game-changer for incident containment. AI doesn’t just react; it’s proactive, constantly learning and adapting based on every threat it encounters, making your system more secure and prepared to face evolving threats.
The Future of AI in Incident Response
Let’s be honest. AI isn’t here to replace your SOC team, but it’s definitely changing how they do their job. AI will continue to improve, especially with its ability to process unstructured data and make contextual decisions.
In the future, AI might even predict incidents before they happen, analyzing emerging attack vectors and automatically deploying defenses. It would be like having a crystal ball for cyber threats, and that’s a future that I think is worth getting excited about!
This is a guest blog from Ushi Heffernan, Co-Founder & Lead Security Engineer/Consultant, HackerHaus Security Solutions. Ushi is a former police detective, police digital forensic examiner and federal taskforce member turned cyber security professional and expert. She has taken her experience from L3Harris, Mandiant, and Google Cloud and is now running her own Cyber Security Firm, HackerHaus Security Solutions, LLC, focused on working with orgs of all sizes, with a special passion in helping small and medium sized business find cost effective solutions to meet the growing cybersecurity needs they face. You can contact her at ushi@hackerhaus.io.
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