The Binalyze 2026 State of the SOC Report
SOCs get 2,047 alerts a day. Attacks break out in 28 minutes. Teams take 37 minutes to act. Discover why 400 CISOs say the answer isn’t more alerts; it’s the truth.
But it’s fighting on three fronts at once: an avalanche of alerts, a flood of data, and a wave of regulation that often rewards box-ticking over real security.
We surveyed 400 CISOs and senior IT leaders across the US and UK to see how SOCs are coping. The findings are stark. Teams are losing the race against attackers. Not because they lack information, but because they lack the evidence and context to act on it with confidence.
Binalyze 2026 State of the SOC Report. Sapio Research survey of 400 US and UK CISOs and senior IT leaders at organizations with 500+ employees, Q2 2026.
37 > 28
SOCs take 37 minutes to act on an alert. Attacks break out in 28. The attacker gets there first.
2,047
alerts a day. Over 1,200 are ignored or false positives. More than 300 potential threats go uninvestigated for lack of resources.
91%
of CISOs say their organization suffers from information overload. 77% have missed warnings because of it.
$5.1m
The average annual cost of vulnerabilities that go undiscovered.
74%
have had security projects refused because they "weren't deemed necessary" for compliance.
How alert volume, hidden risk and compliance pressure compound each other.
Most SOCs don’t trust automation built on telemetry alone, because telemetry isn’t ground truth.
67% of CISOs using AI for triage still can’t fully trust it.
62% of SOCs focus almost entirely on alerts and triage. 77% of CISOs say they’d be more effective if they were proactive.
CISOs lose around four hours every week to compliance work that doesn’t improve security.
Evidence that’s complete, contextual and usable from the first alert.
Even with all the information at our disposal, I don't have 100% confidence in our decision-making.
CISOs, SOC leaders, security architects and IR teams at organizations with 500+ employees who want to move from reacting to alerts to acting on evidence.
Get the full findings, benchmarks by company size, and a practical view of how leading SOCs are shifting from defense to confident, proactive offense.
Methodology: Sapio Research surveyed 400 CISOs and senior IT leaders responsible for the SOC at US and UK organizations with 500+ employees. Research conducted in Q2 2026.
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