AI attacks now move in minutes, not weeks: N-Able’s Robert Johnston on the SOC’s AI reckoning

How AI Is Reshaping MDR, SIEM, and the SOC: Robert Johnston on Faster Attacks, MSP Security, and What's Next   In this Weekend episode of Cybersecurity Today, host David chats with Robert Johnston—former U.S. Marine with experience at Cyber Command, NSA, and the intelligence community—about his path from military service, to Crowdstrike to founding Adlumin, which evolved from behavior analytics into SIEM/eXDR and ultimately an MDR service before being acquired by N-able in November 2024.   They discuss how AI is transforming SOC operations by automating time-consuming work like incident summaries, enabling more customized investigations, and helping reduce alert fatigue while improving verdicts. Johnston explains how AI-driven attacks are compressing dwell time from weeks to minutes or hours, forcing defenders to match detection and response speed, and predicts increased AI-enabled vulnerability discovery will make patching and vulnerability management more critical.   The conversation also covers MSPs becoming security providers, regulatory friction around AI, autonomous hacking headlines, and why hack-back by private companies risks collateral damage and liability.   00:00 Sponsor NordLayer 00:37 Weekend Show Intro 02:02 Robert Career Journey 03:08 Building Adlumin 05:50 AI Transforms SOC Work 08:56 AI Investigations Upgrade 11:23 Alert Fatigue and MDR 13:49 MSPs Become MSSPs 19:30 AI as Opportunity and Threat 21:13 Attack Speed Compression 22:54 Wins and Frustrations 26:59 Autonomous Hacking Reality 29:03 Hack Back Debate 32:43 Next 12 Months Forecast 34:28 Closing Thanks 35:22 Sponsor Message Return

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