78% of companies reduced security operation center (SOC) staffing by 50% or more during holidays and weekends.

62% of organizations reduced SOC staffing on holidays and weekends to provide employees with work/life balance.

38% plan to deploy AI agents within Security Operations Centers (SOCs) in the coming year.

38% of organizations place the insider risk function within Security/SOC.

14% of executives at financial services firms acknowledge that having no access to a SOC partner is a significant weakness that could slow recovery.

50% of financial services firms plan to invest or upgrade in advanced threat detection and response, such as MDR, EDR, SOC, in 2026.

87% of security leaders are deploying, piloting, or evaluating AI-powered SOC tools.

Only 31% of security leaders use AI-powered SOC tools across core detection and response workflows.

63% of analysts state that AI is improving the accuracy of investigations. This figure rises to 69% among daily AI users regarding improved investigation accuracy.

75% of analysts indicate that AI tools are already improving their job satisfaction by reducing alert fatigue and automating repetitive triage tasks.

Over the next 3–5 years, both leaders and analysts expect autonomous SOC operations to become the norm

100% of security professionals—including both leaders and analysts—state that implementing AI in the Security Operations Centre (SOC) is their top business objective.

96% of leaders report they have no plans to reduce headcount as AI adoption accelerates.

29% of SOCs are using GenAI for Writing/editing security policies.

19% of security teams rely almost entirely on manual processes.

The SOC is restructuring around automation, with 45% of organizations creating centralized automation teams.

Manual work still dominates daily security operations for many teams, with 35% reporting being overwhelmed with repetitive tasks.