Security operations are breaking under their own weight. Alert volumes keep rising. Tier-1 analysts are overwhelmed. Burnout is all too common. And customers still expect fast, auditable responses.
Agentic AI is emerging as a potential pressure release valve. Platforms like AirMDR promise automated triage, investigation, and guided response—without turning the Security Operations Center (SOC) into a black box. For MSPs and MSSPs, the question isn’t whether AI belongs in the SOC. It’s how far it can be trusted, where it fits, and what guardrails are required.
This breakdown focuses on what agentic SOC platforms actually do today, where they help MSPs most, and what needs careful validation before rollout.
Five Takeaways for MSPs
• Agentic AI has a role to play in Tier-1 triage. It filters noise, correlates context, and escalates what truly matters.
• Transparency is non-negotiable. Evidence trails and reasoning matter for audits, trust, and compliance.
• Human approval still matters. Low-risk actions can be automated, but accountability stays with the MSP.
• Free tiers enable proof-of-value. Limited scopes allow safe testing before scaling across tenants—but you’ll need to pay to play properly.
• Data quality determines outcomes. Poor telemetry limits AI effectiveness and increases false positives. As the saying goes, “Garbage in, garbage out”.
Where Agentic AI Fits in the MSP SOC
Most value appears in high-volume, low-complexity work:
• Alert triage and prioritization
• Investigation enrichment and notes
• Drafted response recommendations
• Faster handoff to Tier-2 analysts
In multi-tenant environments, this reduces analyst fatigue and shortens MTTR without increasing headcount.
Limitations
• Hallucination risk without review gates
• Dependency on clean telemetry
• Regulatory frameworks still require human ownership of major incidents
What this means for MSPs
Agentic AI isn’t replacing SOC analysts.Rather, it’s reshaping how work flows through the SOC. MSPs that treat it as an assistant—not a decision maker—can reduce noise, improve audit readiness, and free skilled staff for higher-value work.
The opportunity is real, but discipline matters more than speed.
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Check out the full video transcript
“Your SOC has 1,000 alerts today. Your Tier-1 team might handle a few hundred. What if an AI virtual analyst did most of that—with audit trails you can actually trust?
That’s the promise of AirMDR’s agentic SOC platform, just launched with a Free Forever plan. Today, we’ll test the claims, show where it fits for MSPs, and give you a 7-step checklist to see if your SOC is ready.”
Agentic AI in the SOC isn’t theory anymore. AirMDR announced its platform at Black Hat USA 2025 — and added a free tier for MSSPs and MSPs to try. That’s unusual in this industry.
In this video: what AirMDR really does, where it fits, vendor claims vs. reality, and a practical checklist for MSPs.
What is AirMDR?
AirMDR bills itself as an AI SOC platform that automates triage, investigation, and partial response.
- It ingests alerts from SIEM, EDR, or Cloud tools.
- It uses agentic reasoning to correlate context.
- And it produces explainable evidence reports—so you see how it reached each conclusion.
For MSPs, that means Tier-1 alerts can be triaged faster, and every decision is documented.
Where does AirMDR help most?
- Tier-1 overload: filters noise and escalates only what matters.
- Investigation notes: drafts enrichment and context so Tier-2 works faster.
- Partial response: low-risk actions like host isolation or user disable, but only with human approval policies.
This fits MSPs because multi-tenant environments mean more alerts than one team can handle.
Vendor Claims vs. Reality
AirMDR’s site and case blurbs mention major alert reduction and faster MTTR. These are vendor- and customer-reported numbers — always validate them in your environment.
The free tier—3 sources, 100 alerts per week—is perfect for proof-of-value. But for MSP-scale, you’ll need paid tiers.
Integration breadth is strong, but check your exact versions and tenants.
Strengths:
- Speed on repetitive Tier-1 tasks.
- Consistent documentation for audits.
- Emphasis on transparency, not black-box.
Limitations:
- Hallucinations risk—needs review gates.
- Garbage in, garbage out—noisy telemetry reduces value.
- Compliance: NIS2 and DORA still require human accountability for major incidents.”
Imagine an EDR alert: suspicious PowerShell on a finance PC. AirMDR enriches—process tree, parent process, VirusTotal hash, sign-in logs.
It explains: why this is high risk, and proposes: isolate host, reset session. The analyst approves.
That’s the loop: transparent steps, human final decision.”
MSP Readiness Checklist
- Scope a subset of alerts for a trial.
- Define guardrails: which actions require human approval.
- Ensure telemetry hygiene—synced logs, complete data.
- Test audit exports—would this satisfy your auditor?
- Plan rollback for misfires.
- Measure KPIs: MTTR, Tier-1 offload, false positives.
- Review data residency & compliance claims.
The short version is that agentic AI in the SOC is here, and AirMDR makes it easy to test with a free tier.
Start small, measure results, and keep humans accountable.
