The modern SOC is undergoing the most significant transformation in a generation. AI agents are no longer a “roadmap item”—they are embedded in your detection, response, and playbook execution. But as the line between human intuition and machine speed blurs, a critical question remains:
Can you trust AI agents will perform as expected when faced with real threats?
SimSpace’s inaugural State of Agentic Cybersecurity Report combines survey insights from 93 global CISOs and senior security leaders with exclusive, aggregated performance data from the SimSpace cyber range platform. The results reveal a dangerous gap between perceived agentic preparedness and operational reality, with expert guidance on how to bridge the gap.
The AI Confidence Gap
Our research uncovered a confidence paradox: while leaders say they feel prepared and trust AI agents in their SOC, the underlying metrics tell a different story.
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%
Of security leaders report high confidence in their agentic defenses, yet…
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%
SimSpace platform data reveals that similarly mature security teams have a defensive security readiness score* of only 30% (before conducting repeated agentic simulation exercises).
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%
Of security leaders say they train humans and AI agents with cybersecurity simulations, yet…
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Report that tabletop exercises and certification courses are their top readiness methods, not cybersecurity simulation training.
1-6 hrs
Mean time to detect and respond clusters between an insufficient 1-6 hours. But…
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Teams that continuously train in the SimSpace “AI Proving Grounds” see up to 50% response improvement after repeated exercises.
*SimSpace uses a proprietary metric called defensive security readiness (DSR), which is a performance index measured in SimSpace human and agent team assessments. DSR measures how effectively human operators and AI agents detect and respond to adversarial activity during realistic attack simulations. See the report for more details on DSR.
What’s Inside the Report?
The “AI Proving Grounds” Framework
How to mirror production-grade environments to train and test AI agents alongside human operators against real-world threats.
Benchmarking
Performance
See how your team’s performance metrics, like MTTD/MTTR, compare to industry peers across different maturity levels.
Data-Driven Insights
Analysis of how security leader confidence compares to demonstrable agentic readiness, and how repeated adversary simulations directly correlate agent & team performance.
The Roadmap to
Agentic Maturity
Expert guidance to graduate from individual upskilling to coordinated agentic and human mission rehearsal for autonomous defense.
