What L1 Analysts Were Meant to Do and Why It No Longer Works

Traditionally, L1 analysts were the first line of defense in the SOC:

• Monitor SIEM alerts
  
• Apply basic enrichment
  
• Triage incidents
  
• Escalate based on static playbooks
  

This role made sense when alert volumes were manageable and environments were less complex. But with modern SOCs now processing hundreds of thousands of alerts daily, the L1 tier is overwhelmed.

Key Challenges:

• Repetitive tasks: No value-added decision-making
  
• Alert fatigue: Burnout from false positives
  
• Slow triage: Every decision requires a manual lookup or judgment
  
• Talent waste: Highly trained analysts doing robotic work
  

In this environment, relying on humans for initial triage is no longer scalable or secure.

The Pressures Shaping Modern SOCs

Several factors have made the L1 model obsolete:

• Alert Overload: SOCs are drowning in events. Many turn off telemetry just to stay afloat.
  
• Skill Shortage: There aren’t enough trained analysts to staff every shift.
  
• Budget Constraints: Hiring dozens of junior analysts is cost-prohibitive.
  
• High Turnover: Entry-level roles suffer from burnout and lack of growth opportunities.
  

Organizations need a new approach—one that can:

• Scale instantly
  
• Triage autonomously
  
• Provide consistent decision-making
  

This is where Agentic AI enters the picture.

Enter Agentic AI Replacing Rigid Tiers with Autonomous Intelligence

Agentic AI introduces goal-driven, autonomous agents that:

• Analyze and enrich alerts in real-time
  
• Correlate across telemetry, threat intel, and behavioral baselines
  
• Escalate only when necessary and with full context
  

Unlike manual L1 processes that rely on static logic trees, Agentic agents are adaptive. They understand the intent of an alert, factor in organizational risk posture, and collaborate with other agents to deliver intelligent decisions.

Why It’s Different:

• Works 24/7 with no fatigue
  
• Learns from historical outcomes and analyst feedback
  
• Standardizes triage regardless of analyst experience
  
• Removes latency from the decision chain
  

Real Use Cases Where Agentic AI Replaces L1 Analysts

Let’s examine common workflows where Agentic AI outperforms human triage:

a) Phishing Detection

Old Way: L1 opens the email, checks links, runs it through VirusTotal, flags as suspicious.

Agentic Way: AI agent inspects headers, context, historical email behavior, and threat intel. It calculates a confidence score, applies policy, and escalates or blocks autonomously.

b) Suspicious Logins

Old Way: L1 checks IP geolocation, reviews login history manually.

Agentic Way: AI correlates with identity baseline, device fingerprinting, MFA status, and session anomalies—delivering an instant verdict.

c) Malware Alerts

Old Way: L1 validates file hash, sends to sandbox, waits for report.

Agentic Way: Agent queries threat intel feeds, assesses MITRE ATT&CK patterns, and determines if further escalation or containment is needed.

This isn’t future talk—platforms like SIRP are already automating these flows.

The Role of SIRP Building the Agentic SOC

SIRP’s platform is designed around Agentic AI and autonomous workflows—it’s not just automation, it’s intelligent decision-making.

With Sara, the AI-powered L1 analyst built into SIRP:

• Up to 90% of Tier-1 tasks are handled autonomously
  
• Alerts are triaged in seconds, not minutes
  
• Phishing emails, malware detections, and suspicious logins are fully enriched and scored without human intervention
  

Sara operates as part of SIRP’s Agentic Mesh—a network of specialized AI agents for:

• Triage and classification
  
• Root cause analysis
  
• Remediation planning
  
• Response orchestration
  

This allows organizations to scale operations without scaling headcount.

Benefits of Removing the L1 Layer

Transitioning from human triage to Agentic AI yields massive gains:

• Reduced MTTR: Faster triage leads to faster containment
  
• Lower Analyst Burnout: Humans focus on high-level response and threat hunting
  
• Consistent Outcomes: No more variance between junior analysts
  
• Operational Savings: Fewer hires, less training, lower churn
  
• Improved Visibility: Context-rich alerts with full background available instantly
  
  

Preparing Your SOC for the Transition

Here’s how to get started:
Step 1: Identify High-Volume, Low-Value Tasks (Phishing, login anomalies, endpoint alerts)

Step 2: Deploy SIRP’s AI Analyst in Parallel (Let Sara observe and score incidents in shadow mode)

Step 3: Compare Outcomes (Review Sara’s decisions against analyst judgment)

Step 4: Layer Feedback Mechanisms (Analysts can fine-tune AI behavior via thumbs-up/down and annotations)

Step 5: Decommission Manual Workflows (Once confidence is high, offload entire flows to Sara)

This shift is not disruptive—it’s strategic. It allows your SOC to evolve while empowering analysts.

The New Analyst Role Strategic Oversight, Not Alert Chasing
With L1 tasks handled by AI, human analysts can:

• Focus on threat hunting and intelligence correlation
  
• Design response strategies and simulation exercises
  
• Guide AI agents via feedback and audit trails
  

This transition doesn’t remove humans—it removes bottlenecks and unlocks human potential.

Conclusion It’s Time to Let Go of the L1 Tier

The L1 role is not evolving—it’s disappearing. And that’s a good thing. In the face of relentless threats and operational overload, the only viable path forward is intelligent automation.
Agentic AI, as seen in platforms like SIRP, gives your SOC the brainpower to match the speed of cyberattacks—without scaling burnout or budgets.
SIRP’s Agentic Mesh and AI analyst Sara are not futuristic—they are live, proven, and already redefining how incidents are handled.
The modern SOC doesn’t need more people—it needs smarter systems.

Ready to eliminate alert fatigue and scale your security operations? [Book a Demo with SIRP] and see how Agentic AI transforms your SOC.