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Main Authors: Jalalvand, Fatemeh, Chhetri, Mohan Baruwal, Nepal, Surya, Paris, Cécile
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.18462
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author Jalalvand, Fatemeh
Chhetri, Mohan Baruwal
Nepal, Surya
Paris, Cécile
author_facet Jalalvand, Fatemeh
Chhetri, Mohan Baruwal
Nepal, Surya
Paris, Cécile
contents Alert prioritisation (AP) is crucial for security operations centres (SOCs) to manage the overwhelming volume of alerts and ensure timely detection and response to genuine threats, while minimising alert fatigue. Although predictive AI can process large alert volumes and identify known patterns, it struggles with novel and evolving scenarios that demand contextual understanding and nuanced judgement. A promising solution is Human-AI teaming (HAT), which combines human expertise with AI's computational capabilities. Learning to Defer (L2D) operationalises HAT by enabling AI to "defer" uncertain or unfamiliar cases to human experts. However, traditional L2D models rely on static deferral policies that do not evolve with experience, limiting their ability to learn from human feedback and adapt over time. To overcome this, we introduce Learning to Defer with Human Feedback (L2DHF), an adaptive deferral framework that leverages Deep Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (DRLHF) to optimise deferral decisions. By dynamically incorporating human feedback, L2DHF continuously improves AP accuracy and reduces unnecessary deferrals, enhancing SOC effectiveness and easing analyst workload. Experiments on two widely used benchmark datasets, UNSW-NB15 and CICIDS2017, demonstrate that L2DHF significantly outperforms baseline models. Notably, it achieves 13-16% higher AP accuracy for critical alerts on UNSW-NB15 and 60-67% on CICIDS2017. It also reduces misprioritisations, for example, by 98% for high-category alerts on CICIDS2017. Moreover, L2DHF decreases deferrals, for example, by 37% on UNSW-NB15, directly reducing analyst workload. These gains are achieved with efficient execution, underscoring L2DHF's practicality for real-world SOC deployment.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_18462
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Adaptive alert prioritisation in security operations centres via learning to defer with human feedback
Jalalvand, Fatemeh
Chhetri, Mohan Baruwal
Nepal, Surya
Paris, Cécile
Cryptography and Security
I.2
Alert prioritisation (AP) is crucial for security operations centres (SOCs) to manage the overwhelming volume of alerts and ensure timely detection and response to genuine threats, while minimising alert fatigue. Although predictive AI can process large alert volumes and identify known patterns, it struggles with novel and evolving scenarios that demand contextual understanding and nuanced judgement. A promising solution is Human-AI teaming (HAT), which combines human expertise with AI's computational capabilities. Learning to Defer (L2D) operationalises HAT by enabling AI to "defer" uncertain or unfamiliar cases to human experts. However, traditional L2D models rely on static deferral policies that do not evolve with experience, limiting their ability to learn from human feedback and adapt over time. To overcome this, we introduce Learning to Defer with Human Feedback (L2DHF), an adaptive deferral framework that leverages Deep Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (DRLHF) to optimise deferral decisions. By dynamically incorporating human feedback, L2DHF continuously improves AP accuracy and reduces unnecessary deferrals, enhancing SOC effectiveness and easing analyst workload. Experiments on two widely used benchmark datasets, UNSW-NB15 and CICIDS2017, demonstrate that L2DHF significantly outperforms baseline models. Notably, it achieves 13-16% higher AP accuracy for critical alerts on UNSW-NB15 and 60-67% on CICIDS2017. It also reduces misprioritisations, for example, by 98% for high-category alerts on CICIDS2017. Moreover, L2DHF decreases deferrals, for example, by 37% on UNSW-NB15, directly reducing analyst workload. These gains are achieved with efficient execution, underscoring L2DHF's practicality for real-world SOC deployment.
title Adaptive alert prioritisation in security operations centres via learning to defer with human feedback
topic Cryptography and Security
I.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.18462