AI is Working in the SOC. So Why are Security Executives More Worried Than Ever?

The confidence gap between SOC analysts and their leadership is widening, and it’s not about whether AI works—it’s about trust in the vendors providing it.

The Data Point That Matters Omdia’s survey of 500 security professionals (commissioned by Rapid7) shows near-universal agreement that AI is delivering: 97% report positive outcomes, 98% say it reduces alert fatigue, and 95% say it helps with staffing shortages. On the surface, the story is “AI works, move on.”

The Real Finding: The Executive Confidence Gap The headline numbers mask a significant divergence. Executive leaders (CISOs, CSOs, VPs) are 1.6x more likely than operational managers to be “highly concerned” about how AI vendors handle their organization’s security data. This isn’t skepticism about the technology’s efficacy—it’s a risk management concern about data sovereignty, vendor supply chain risk, and the long-term implications of feeding sensitive telemetry into third-party models.

Why This Matters for SecOps

• Operational teams see AI as a force multiplier that fixes alert fatigue and talent gaps. They trust the output because they see it working daily.
• Executives are asking harder questions: Where does our data go? Is it used for model training? What happens if the vendor is acquired or changes terms? This is a classic tension between tactical relief and strategic risk.

Key Takeaway The technology is past the proof-of-concept stage. The next battleground isn’t AI capability—it’s AI governance and vendor transparency. If you’re deploying AI in the SOC, expect your CISO to start asking for data handling SLAs and model audit rights, not just detection rates.

Source: https://www.rapid7.com/blog/post/ai-report-500-security-leaders-reveal-security-operations-transformation