What AI Agents Should Own in Your SOC, And What Happens If You Wait with Tim Leehealey

What AI Agents Should Own in Your SOC, And What Happens If You Wait with Tim Leehealey

July 21, 2026 · 36 min · Season 6 · Episode 434

About this episode

Tim Leehealey discusses the integration of AI agents in security operations centers and the challenges organizations face in adopting them.

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 - Introduction01:55 - Busting a myth: AI will replace analysts04:45 - Introducing Tim Leehealey 05:30 - The Strike48 survey: 84% say hand L1 to AI08:00 - Fear the low-and-slow attacker, not the loud one13:00 - Getting breached without agents in 202715:00 - When Tim's…

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Host: Hacker Valley Media

Guest: Tim Leehealey

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Organizations: Strike 48, Fortune 100

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