4 outdated habits that will destroy your SOC’s MTTR in 2026

Even though it’s 2026, many SOCs are still operating the same way they did a few years ago, with tools and processes designed for a completely different threat landscape. Given the growing volume and complexity of cyber threats, outdated practices can no longer fully support the needs of analysts, significantly slowing investigations and incident response.

Here are four limiting habits that may be preventing your SOC from evolving at the pace of your adversaries, and insights into what forward-thinking 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 verification and analysis. This approach introduces friction at every step, from sample processing to tool switching to manual correlation of findings.

Manually dependent workflows are often the root cause of alert fatigue and delayed prioritization, resulting in slow response times. These challenges are particularly relevant to the high volume of alert flows common in enterprises.

What to do instead:

Modern SOCs are moving toward automation-optimized workflows. Cloud-based malware analysis services allow teams to perform full-scale threat explosions in a secure environment. No setup or maintenance required. Automated sandboxes handle the groundwork, from quick answers to detailed threat summaries, without compromising the depth and quality of your investigation. Analysts focus on high-priority tasks and incident response.

Malicious URL automatically opened in browser after QR code is parsed by ANY.RUN

An enterprise SOC using ANY.RUN’s interactive sandbox applied this model to reduce MTTR by 21 minutes per incident. This hands-on approach supports deep visibility into attacks that include multi-stage threats. Automated interactivity can address CAPTCHAs and QR codes that hide malicious activity without analyst involvement. This allows analysts to fully understand threat behavior and take swift and decisive action.

2. Rely only on static scans and reputation checks

Static scans and reputation checks are useful, but they are not always sufficient. Open-source intelligence databases commonly used by analysts often provide outdated metrics without real-time updates. This makes your infrastructure vulnerable to modern attacks. Attackers continue to improve their tactics using unique payloads, short-lived features, and evasion techniques to thwart signature-based detection.

What to do instead:

Leading SOCs have adopted behavioral analytics as a core part of their operations. By exploding files and URLs in real-time, you can instantly understand malicious intent, even if it’s an unprecedented threat.

Dynamic analytics reveals the entire execution flow, enabling faster detection of advanced threats, and rich behavioral insights for confident decision-making and investigation. From network and system activity to TTPs and detection rules, ANY.RUN supports all stages of threat investigation and facilitates dynamic, in-depth analysis.

Real-time analysis of click-up fraud fully exposed in 60 seconds

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

As a result, the median MTTD for ANY.RUN’s interactive sandbox users was 15 seconds.

3. Cut tools

An optimized workflow is one in which no process occurs in isolation from other processes. When a SOC relies on standalone tools for each task, it creates problems with reporting, tracing, and manual processing. A lack of integration between different solutions and resources creates gaps in your workflow, and each gap poses a risk. This fragmentation increases research time and reduces transparency in decision-making.

What to do instead:

SOC leaders play a key role in streamlining workflows and introducing a unified view of all processes. By prioritizing solution integration and bridging the gaps between different stages of an investigation, a seamless workflow is created. This creates a complete attack view for analysts within the framework of one unified infrastructure.

Advantages of ANY.RUN across hierarchies

Integrating ANY.RUN Sandbox with SIEM, SOAR, EDR, or other security systems into our SOC team increased analyst throughput by 3x. This reflects faster triage, reduced workload, and accelerated incident response without increasing workload or headcount. The main factors are:

Real-time threat visibility: 90% of threats are detected within 60 seconds. Higher detection rates: Advanced low-detection attacks are made visible through interactive explosions. Automated efficiency: Automated interaction reduces manual analysis time and speeds processing of complex cases.

4. Suspicious alerts that escalate excessively

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

A lack of clarity is what silently causes them. Without clear evidence and confidence in the verdict and conclusion, Tier 1s do not feel empowered enough to respond independently and with agency.

What to do instead:

Critical insights and rich context minimize escalations. Structured summaries and reports, actionable insights, and actionable metrics – all of this helps Tier 1s make informed decisions without additional handoffs.

AI Sigma Rules panel in ANY.RUN with exportable rules

ANY.RUN gives analysts more than just clear judgment. Each report also comes with an AI overview that covers the basic conclusions and IOCs, as well as sigma rules that explain the detection logic. Finally, the report provides the necessary justification for containment or dismissal. This allows ANY.RUN users to reduce escalations by 30%, helping improve incident response speed.

ANY.RUN’s business-centric solution delivers:

Reduce risk exposure and speed containment: Behavior-based early detection and consistently low MTTR reduce dwell time, helping protect critical infrastructure, sensitive data, and corporate reputation. Increase SOC productivity and operational efficiency: Analysts resolve incidents faster while handling more alerts without adding additional personnel. Scalable operations built to grow with your company: API- and SDK-driven integrations support growing teams, distributed SOCs, and increased alert volumes. More powerful, faster decision-making across the SOC: Unified visibility, structured reporting, and cross-layer context enable confident decision-making at every level.

More than 15,000 SOC teams from organizations in 195 countries are already using ANY.RUN to power their metrics. Measurable impacts include:

21 minutes reduction in MTTR per incident 15 seconds median MTTD 3x increase in analyst throughput 30% reduction in Tier 1 to Tier 2 escalations

conclusion

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

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