SOC-in-a-Box: A Multi-Agent LLM-Based Security Operations Center for Threat Detection and Automated Incident Response

Abstract

Modern Security Operations Centres struggle with overwhelming alert volumes, chronic analyst shortages, and slow incident response times. This paper presents SOC-in-a-Box, a multi-agent prototype that automates the three core SOC functions—detection, investigation, and response—using specialised AI agents powered by a large language model (LLM). The Sentry agent monitors log files and flags suspicious events using either LLM classification or a built-in rule engine. The Investigator agent gathers related evidence from across the log corpus and asks the LLM to produce a structured root-cause analysis. The Responder agent selects a policy-approved containment action, executes it in a simulated or live environment, and generates a structured Markdown incident report. All three agents run as lightweight Python threads connected through in-memory queues with no external message broker. When the LLM is unavailable, a deterministic fallback engine ensures the pipeline continues to operate. Evaluation across five attack categories—brute-force, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, port scanning, and malware deployment—shows complete detection coverage with end-to-end latency below 60 seconds on a standard laptop. The system demonstrates that a self-contained, locally deployable multi-agent architecture can meaningfully reduce manual effort in routine SOC workflows while preserving human oversight on critical decisions.