It's 2026, yet many SOCs are still operating the way they did years ago, using tools and processes designed for a very different threat landscape. Given the growth in volumes and complexity of cyber threats, outdated practices no longer fully support analysts' needs, staggering investigations and incident response.

Below are four limiting habits that may be preventing your SOC from evolving at the pace of adversaries, and insights into what forward-looking teams are doing instead to achieve enterprise-grade incident response this year.

1. Manual Review of Suspicious Samples

Despite advances in security tools, many analysts still rely heavily on manual validation and analysis. This approach creates friction on every step, from processing samples to switching between tools and manually correlating the findings.

Manually dependent workflows are often the root cause of alert fatigue and delayed prioritization, subsequently slowing down response. These challenges are especially relevant in high-volume alert flows, which are typical for enterprises.

What to do instead:

Modern SOCs are shifting towards automation-optimized workflows. Cloud-based malware analysis services allow teams to do full-scale threat detonations in a secure environment; no setup and maintenance needed. From quick answers to in-depth threat overview, automated sandboxes handle the groundwork without losing depth and quality of investigations. Analysts focus on higher-priority tasks and incident response.

QR code analyzed and malicious URL opened in a browser automatically by ANY.RUN

Enterprise SOCs using ANY.RUN's Interactive Sandbox applies this model to reduce MTTR by 21 minutes per incident. Such a hands-on approach supports deep visibility into attacks, including multi-stage threats. Automated interactivity is able to deal with CAPTCHAs and QR codes that hide malicious activity with no analyst involvement. This enables analysts to gain a full understanding of the threat's behavior to act quickly and decisively.

2. Relying Solely on Static Scans and Reputation Checks

Static scans and reputation checks are useful, but on their own, aren't always sufficient. Open-source intelligence databases that analysts often turn to often offer outdated indicators without real-time updates. This leaves your infrastructure vulnerable to the latest attacks. Adversaries continue to enhance their tactics with unique payloads, short-lived features, and evasion techniques, preventing signature-based detection.

What to do instead:

Leading SOCs employ behavioral analysis as the core of their operations. Detonating files and URLs in real time provides them with an instant view of malicious intent, even if it's a never-before-seen threat.

Dynamic analysis exposes the entire execution flow, enabling fast detection of advanced threats, and rich behavioral insights enable confident decisions and investigations. From network and system activity to TTPs and detection rules, ANY.RUN supports all stages of threat investigations, facilitating dynamic in-depth analysis.

Real-time analysis of Clickup abuse fully exposed in 60 seconds

The sandbox helps teams unravel detection logic, get response artifacts, network indicators, and other behavioral evidence to avoid blind zones, missed threats, and delayed action.

As a result, median MTTD among ANY.RUN's Interactive sandbox users are 15 seconds.

3. Disconnected Tools

An optimized workflow is one where no process happens in isolation from others. When SOC relies on standalone tools for each task, issues arise — around reporting, tracing, and manual processing. Lack of integration between different solutions and resources creates gaps in your workflow, and each gap is a risk. Such fragmentation increases investigation time and destroys transparency in decision-making.

What to do instead:

SOC leaders play a key role in streamlining the workflow and introducing a unified view into all processes. Prioritizing integration of solutions to remove the gap between different stages of investigations creates a seamless workflow. This creates a full attack view for analysts in the framework of one integrated infrastructure.

ANY.RUN's benefits across Tiers

After integrating ANY.RUN sandbox into your SIEM, SOAR, EDR, or other security systems, and SOC teams see 3x improvement in analyst throughput. This reflects fast triage, reduced workload, and accelerated incident response without a heavier workload or extra headcount. Key drivers include:

• Real-Time Threat Visibility: 90% of threats get detected within 60 seconds.
• Higher Detection Rates: Advanced, low-detection attacks become visible through interactive detonation.
• Automated Efficiency: Manual analysis time is cut with automated interactivity, enabling fast handling of complex cases.

4. Over-Escalating Suspicious Alerts

Frequent escalations between Tier 1 and Tier 2 are often treated as normal and inevitable. But in many cases, they are avoidable.

The lack of clarity is what's quietly causing them. Without clear evidence and confidence in verdicts and conclusions, Tier 1 doesn't feel empowered enough to take agency and respond independently.

What to do instead:

Conclusive insights and rich context minimize escalations. Structured summaries and reports, actionable insights, and behavioral indicators — all this helps Tier 1 make information decisions without additional handoffs.

AI Sigma Rules panel in ANY.RUN with rules ready for export

With ANY.RUN, analysts get more than clean verdicts. Each report also comes with AI summaries covering basic conclusions and IOCs, Sigma rules explaining detection logic. Finally, reports provide the justification needed for containment or dismissal. This enables ANY.RUN users to reduce escalations by 30%, contributing to better incident response speed.

Business-centered solutions by ANY.RUN bring:

• Reduced Risk Exposure and Faster Containment
• Early, behavior-based detection and consistently lower MTTR reduce dwell time, helping protect critical infrastructure, sensitive data, and corporate reputation.
• Higher SOC Productivity and Operational Efficiency
• Analysts resolve incidents faster while handling higher alert volumes without additional headcount.
• Scalable Operations Built for Enterprise Growth
• API- and SDK-driven integrations support expanding teams, distributed SOCs, and increasing alert volumes.
• Stronger, Faster Decision-Making Across the SOC
• Unified visibility, structured reports, and cross-tier context enable confident decisions at every level.

Over 15,000 SOC teams in organizations across 195 countries have already enhanced their metrics with ANY.RUN. Measurable impact includes:

• 21 minutes reduced MTTR per incident
• 15-second median MTTD
• 3× improvement in analyst throughput
• 30% fewer Tier 1 to Tier 2 escalations

Conclusion

Improving MTTR in 2026 is about removing friction, optimizing processes, and streamlining your entire workflow with solutions that support automation, dynamic analysis, and enterprise-grade integration.

This is the strategy already applied by top-performing SOCs and MSSPs.

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