What AI Agents Should Own in Your SOC, And What Happens If You Wait with Tim Leehealey
Show notes
What happens when the adversary moves at machine speed, and your SOC is still responding at human speed? Why does nearly every security team say AI should handle L1 work, while 64% of organizations still have zero agents in production? And how long until the "coworker" resolving your ticket in Slack turns out not to be human at all?
Tim Leehealey, VP of Strategy and Operations at Strike 48, joins us this week to talk about what it actually takes to get AI agents out of the demo and into production. Tim agenticized his own company's IT, watched it blow up, and came out the other side with lessons from Fortune 100 SOCs running agents at serious scale.
He shares where AI actually belongs in the alert pipeline, the objections holding teams back, and a blunt warning for any leader still waiting on the sidelines in 2027. If AI in the SOC is on your roadmap before the end of this year, start here.
Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
01:55 - Busting a myth: AI will replace analysts
04:45 - Introducing Tim Leehealey
05:30 - The Strike48 survey: 84% say hand L1 to AI
08:00 - Fear the low-and-slow attacker, not the loud one
13:00 - Getting breached without agents in 2027
15:00 - When Tim's own rollout blew up
19:00 - Micro agents inside deterministic workflows
21:25 - Skills advice for L1 analysts
26:00 - The next 18 months of agentic adoption
28:00 - Jim Bob in your Slack is an agent
21:30 - Ron's take: transparency is the trust unlock
Connect with Tim Leehealey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-leehealey-b8b04321
Learn more about Strike48: https://strike48.com
Check out the 2026 State of Agentic Security report here: https://hubs.ly/Q04p49S20
Go deeper on Strike 48's technology: https://labs.strike48.com
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