Randomized Controlled Trials for Phishing Triage Agent

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Bono, James
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Bono, James
author_facet Bono, James
contents Security operations centers (SOCs) face a persistent challenge: efficiently triaging a high volume of user-reported phishing emails while maintaining robust protection against threats. This paper presents the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating the impact of a domain-specific AI agent - the Microsoft Security Copilot Phishing Triage Agent - on analyst productivity and accuracy. Our results demonstrate that agent-augmented analysts achieved up to 6.5 times as many true positives per analyst minute and a 77% improvement in verdict accuracy compared to a control group. The agent's queue prioritization and verdict explanations were both significant drivers of efficiency. Behavioral analysis revealed that agent-augmented analysts reallocated their attention, spending 53% more time on malicious emails, and were not prone to rubber-stamping the agent's malicious verdicts. These findings offer actionable insights for SOC leaders considering AI adoption, including the potential for agents to fundamentally change the optimal allocation of SOC resources.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_13860
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Randomized Controlled Trials for Phishing Triage Agent
Bono, James
General Economics
Economics
Artificial Intelligence
Security operations centers (SOCs) face a persistent challenge: efficiently triaging a high volume of user-reported phishing emails while maintaining robust protection against threats. This paper presents the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating the impact of a domain-specific AI agent - the Microsoft Security Copilot Phishing Triage Agent - on analyst productivity and accuracy. Our results demonstrate that agent-augmented analysts achieved up to 6.5 times as many true positives per analyst minute and a 77% improvement in verdict accuracy compared to a control group. The agent's queue prioritization and verdict explanations were both significant drivers of efficiency. Behavioral analysis revealed that agent-augmented analysts reallocated their attention, spending 53% more time on malicious emails, and were not prone to rubber-stamping the agent's malicious verdicts. These findings offer actionable insights for SOC leaders considering AI adoption, including the potential for agents to fundamentally change the optimal allocation of SOC resources.
title Randomized Controlled Trials for Phishing Triage Agent
topic General Economics
Economics
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.13860