AI Agents Are Being Drafted into the Cyber Defense Forces of Corporations

The rise of generative AI and large language models has drastically shifted the cybersecurity landscape, empowering attackers with easy-to-use tools that can create realistic video and voice deepfakes, personalized phishing campaigns, malware, and malicious code. This surge in AI-driven cybercrime has opened the door for AI on the defense side as well. Agentic AI is becoming deeply embedded in enterprises, not only in sectors like finance and legal but increasingly in cybersecurity, where AI agents are emerging as key assets for detection, analysis, and alerts. "It's a massive challenge to detect, contain, investigate and respond across larger companies," said Brian Murphy, CEO of cybersecurity technology company ReliaQuest. "AI is allowing us to remove a lot of that noise, that tier one or tier two work, that work that's often not at all relevant to something that could be threatening to an organization." Putting tools in the hands of human workers that automate menial or time-consuming tasks, freeing them to focus on more critical work, has been a major selling point for agentic AI. In a message shared with Amazon employees in June, CEO Andy Jassy stated, "We have strong conviction that AI agents will change how we all work and live," envisioning "billions of these agents, across every company and in every imaginable field," helping workers "focus less on rote work and more on thinking strategically" while making jobs more engaging. Murphy shares a similar view for cybersecurity, where workers are often overwhelmed with tasks they shouldn't be spending time on, leading to burnout and exacerbating the shortage of skilled talent. He also highlighted how AI is enhancing cyberattacks. "Those phishing emails, they used to look almost laughable with the misspellings and the fonts wrong," he said. "AI can take the average bad actor and make them better, and so the trick is if you're on the defensive side, they have to use AI because of the reality of what AI can do." ReliaQuest recently launched GreyMatter Agentic Teammates — autonomous, role-based AI agents designed to take on tasks that detection engineers or threat intelligence researchers would otherwise handle on security operations teams. "Think of it as this persona that teams up with a human, and the human is prompting that agentic AI, so the human knows what to do," Murphy explained. "It's like having a teammate that takes that incident response analyst and multiplies their capability." Murphy gave an example common to global companies: international executive travel. Whenever a laptop or phone connects to a network in a country like China, the security team is alerted and must verify the executive’s secure use of their device. An agentic AI teammate could automate this verification or set up similar processes for board meetings, off-sites, or large team gatherings. "There are hundreds of things like that," he said. Justin Dellaportas, Chief Information and Security Officer at communications technology company Syniverse, noted that AI agents have automated basic cybersecurity tasks like combing through logs and are beginning to automate actions such as quarantining flagged emails or restricting access for compromised accounts across multiple logins. "[AI] is being used by criminals to efficiently find vulnerabilities and exploits into organizations at scale, resulting in higher success rates, earlier initial access, and faster lateral movement within organizations," Dellaportas said. "Cyber defenders really need to lean into this technology now more than ever to stay ahead of this evolving threat landscape and the pace of cyber criminals." He described the adoption of agentic AI in cybersecurity as a "crawl, walk, run methodology," where AI first reasons and takes action, then iterates based on previous actions. "I come back to a kind of trust but verify, and then as we get confidence in its effectiveness, we'll move on to different problems," Dellaportas added.

What AI Bots Mean for Cybersecurity Workers

While AI agents can take over some tasks from human cybersecurity professionals, Dellaportas emphasized that the technology is an augmentation to make workers more effective, not a replacement. Murphy agreed, stating that agentic AI will not replace cybersecurity workers but will help automate tasks better suited for automation, while also addressing the skills gap many organizations face. "There may be a shortage of trained and skilled cybersecurity professionals, but there's no shortage of people who would like to be trained and skilled at cybersecurity," Murphy said. "The reason knowledge transfer takes so long in cyber is that when you get your entry-level job, it's equivalent to working on a help desk." He acknowledged that deploying agentic AI requires education and that concerns remain about how AI makes decisions. Dellaportas noted that agentic AI is already being used across various business lines, making conversations about its benefits more common. AI agents are gaining traction inside companies. A May 2025 Gartner poll of 147 CIOs and IT leaders found that 24% had deployed some AI agents, with over 50% of those agents working across IT, HR, and accounting functions, compared to just 23% in external customer-facing roles. Avivah Litan, distinguished vice president analyst on Gartner's AI strategy team, said companies experimenting with agentic AI in cybersecurity find it "moderately beneficial," though questions remain about scaling beyond simpler tasks. "Security has always been the low-hanging fruit use case for AI," Litan said. "You first saw AI show up with fraud detection, so it's 100% that we're going to have digital security assistance in the future doing work and freeing up staff to take on the new attacks; the key will be making sure they stay up with all this innovation so they can see the whole attack surface." Murphy believes corporate adoption of agentic AI in cybersecurity may outpace sectors like finance or legal. "They absolutely understand AI is being used against them, and the only way to defend that is to use it in their own defense," he said.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How is generative AI impacting cybersecurity?

Generative AI is empowering attackers by providing tools for creating realistic deepfakes, personalized phishing campaigns, malware, and malicious code, significantly raising the stakes in the cybersecurity landscape.

What is agentic AI in cybersecurity?

Agentic AI refers to AI systems, or "agents," that are becoming deeply embedded in enterprises for cybersecurity functions. They are designed to detect, analyze, and alert on threats, automating many tasks traditionally handled by human analysts.

What is the primary benefit of agentic AI for cybersecurity professionals?

Agentic AI helps remove "noise" from security data, automating tier-one and tier-two tasks. This frees up human professionals to focus on more critical, strategic aspects of cybersecurity, reducing burnout and addressing the skills shortage.

How does agentic AI help with tasks like executive travel security?

An agentic AI teammate can automate the verification processes when a device connects to a network in a foreign country, or for other events like board meetings and team gatherings, ensuring security protocols are followed efficiently.

Is agentic AI a replacement for cybersecurity workers?

No, experts emphasize that agentic AI is intended to augment the capabilities of human workers, not replace them. It automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing humans to focus on higher-level decision-making and complex problem-solving.

How is AI being used by cybercriminals?

Criminals are using AI to efficiently identify vulnerabilities and exploits at scale, leading to higher success rates, earlier initial access, and faster lateral movement within organizations. This necessitates the use of AI by defenders to keep pace.

What is the adoption methodology for agentic AI in cybersecurity?

The adoption typically follows a "crawl, walk, run" methodology, where AI first reasons and takes action, then iterates and improves based on previous actions and feedback, gradually increasing confidence and scope.

What are the key concerns with deploying agentic AI in cybersecurity?

Concerns include the need for ongoing education for deployment and a lack of complete transparency regarding how AI makes its decisions.

Crypto Market AI's Take

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AI agents are being drafted into the cyber defense forces of corporations