As government IT administrators deal with an expanding attack surface, their security operations centers may receive an overwhelming number of alerts. Employees spend hours chasing down false alarms and prioritizing true threats. Distracted staff can suffer alert fatigue and perhaps even burnout on a daily basis without appropriate alert management.
The CDW Cybersecurity Research Report advises that automation can address the issue. Artificial intelligence can screen alerts, downplaying the ones that are not an issue and promoting those that warrant attention.
“A lot of organizations are experiencing pain because the security workforce is not large enough,” says Stephanie Hagopian, vice president of security for CDW. “Staffing issues tend to be pervasive, and automation is definitely an effective way to contend with those challenges.”
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The federal government stands on two sides of this coin. Federal IT managers must protect their own assets from attack, and agencies are a trusted source of threat intelligence, disseminated through authorities such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Public and private sector organizations must train their AI systems to flag alerts from trusted sources, such as CISA.
The State of Cyber Security 2025 report from Check Point Software Technologies states, “Such third-party alerts serve as crucial early warnings, allowing organizations to respond proactively to credible external intelligence before the threats escalate. Since these alerts come from trusted entities and usually undergo professional analysis before issuance, they are highly reliable. This prompts organizations to act swiftly and initiate incident investigations.”
Putting AI to Work Clarifying Agencies’ Threat Landscapes
Organizations dealt with an increasing volume of alerts from government agencies and security vendors in 2024, the Check Point report notes, and admins face the challenge of quickly addressing alerts with trusted information.
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The CDW Artificial Intelligence Research Report emphasizes how AI can help clarify the threat landscape. Among the cybersecurity professionals CDW surveyed about their use of AI, 85% said AI can improve cybersecurity, while 73% are implementing or have implemented AI to do so.
“AI helps put modern CISOs in a much better position to handle their roles and responsibilities,” says Aaron McCray, field CISO for CDW. “The challenge has always been, do I have the right information, the right amount of information, at the right time to make decisions? With AI, we can make really intelligent decisions rapidly.”
Security managers can benefit from training AI to read alert data and flag it for action appropriately when it meets specific criteria; for example, when it originates from a prioritized trusted source.
