Fixing a Slow SOC: Top 3 Solutions that Actually Work

Disclosure: This article was provided by ANY.RUN. The information and analysis presented are based on their research.

Speeding up the workflow in a SOC team is rarely just a matter of time management or additional staffing. To improve metrics like mean-time-to-detect (MTTR) and mean-time-to-response (MTTR), it’s often more important to step back, notice gaps in current processes, and close them with purpose-built solutions.

Below are three key steps to take as a CISO on the way to better SOC performance.

****Solution 1 – Providing context to alerts********Why it matters:****

Slow incident response isn’t usually caused by a lack of expertise on how to respond to alerts. It’s more about wasting time on figuring out why an alert occurred in the first place by consulting multiple sources and enriching indicators manually.

And even after this daunting investigation for each incident, there’s not always a complete context for analysts to make judgment calls based on.

Not knowing which alerts matter most might lead to a longer response cycle, burnout across tiers, and inconsistent decision-making. That’s why it’s important to provide access to high-fidelity threat context: malware behaviour, network IOCs, and related attacks. Clarity is the way to better prioritisation and a reduction in MTTR.

****Best way to implement:****

Use solutions that provide context to alerts instantly, without disruptions to investigation workflow. ANY.RUN’s Threat Intelligence Lookup draws on one of the world’s largest ecosystems of malware data accumulated by more than half a million analysts and 15,000+ SOC teams.

TI Lookup in action: delivering a verdict and threat context for a URL

Eliminating time-consuming manual enrichment not only creates room for faster triage but also helps prevent alert fatigue in teams. Analysts get immediate, high-confidence answers: IPs, domains, URLs, and other indicators get quick verdicts and threat context, from network activity and malware classification to relationships and related IOCs.

The result is faster triage, less alert fatigue, and a lower risk of missing critical signals.

Cut MTTD & MTTR with instant alert context enrichment

Request a trial for TI Lookup

****Solution 2 – Establishing a proactive defence********Why it matters:****

Given the unprecedented speed of malware evolution, a SOC team that only does reactive response is always one step behind. Detection rules require constant updates with fresh indicators. The only way to achieve a robust defence system in these conditions is to promote early detection and research.

Proactive defence gives analysts the advantages of pre-incident visibility, shifting the workflow from “respond to incidents only” to “prevent incidents altogether” mode. By doing research, gathering information on the latest threats, attacks, and campaigns active across industries, teams catch threats earlier in the kill chain. This reduces their dwell time and maintains focus on real risks.

****Best way to implement:** **

Equip your SOC team with intelligence that turns context into actionable insights. Threat Intelligence Lookup by ANY.RUN can be used for threat hunting, helping analysts gain an immediate, behaviour-based understanding of any artefact.

Data provided by TI Lookup for Agent Tesla threats researched in Germany

With over 40 parameters that cover all analysts’ needs, it’s never been easier to browse data collected by a global expert community of 15K teams all over the world. Analysts can uncover hidden threats quickly and validate suspicious activity in seconds.

Using TI Lookup for threat hunting enables earlier detection and a consistently proactive security posture.

****Solution 3 – Unifying and automating the tech stack********Why it matters:****

A fragmented tech stack is never intentional. It’s a result of a long process of accumulating solutions over time. Each tool solves a specific problem, but the lack of integration between them causes friction: fractured visibility, duplicated work, and manual data transfer. As a result, the investigations get staggered.

A well-integrated ecosystem reinforced by automation brings everything together. It ties together indicators and context, alerts and responses. Ultimately, it speeds up the analysis flow, strengthens threat hunting, and facilitates an efficient use of resources.

Connect ANY.RUN’s solutions with your stack for unified security

Best way to implement:

Choose solutions designed for frictionless workflows and interoperability. A unified system works better than a collection of disconnected components: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.

Threat Intelligence Lookup fits into this approach in two ways:

• Integrations support: From ready-to-use connectors to custom integrations, they drive an automated, fast workflow, making it easier to embed high-quality intelligence into existing SOC processes without disruption.
• Native connection to malware sandbox: Every TI Lookup’s indicator is linked to tied to a real-life investigation done in ANY.RUN’s Interactive Sandbox. Analysts get one-click access to deeper visibility.

****Conclusion****

Fast and efficient SOC is about smarter workflows and decisions powered by quality threat intelligence. Rich alert context, proactive hunting, and refined tech stack lead to lower MTTR and better prevention of incidents.