Most users expect their digital lives at work to run smoothly. Devices boot up, networks connect, and cloud applications perform instantly. When something breaks, we reset passwords, swap hardware, or update software. Security alerts may flash occasionally but for many organisations, the daily burden of cybersecurity feels manageable.
Firewalls, endpoint protection, SIEM systems and multi-factor authentication quietly keep operations steady, until an invisible adversary finds a gap.
That adversary is no longer just human. Agentic AI, autonomous systems increasingly capable of planning, adapting and executing attacks, are rewriting the rules of engagement. These systems don’t just help the hackers; they are the hackers.
They map organisations, scrape employee data, craft tailored phishing campaigns, pivot when blocked and even negotiate ransoms automatically.
The result is we have a new era of scalable, tireless and adaptive cyber threats that are largely hidden beneath the surface.
At the tip of the iceberg
The most visible AI threats today are deepfakes and phishing campaigns. We’ve all seen altered videos of public figures and received emails that look uncannily real. But agentic AI takes these threats much further.
Imagine a system that studies LinkedIn connections, generates highly personalised outreach and refines its approach every time someone ignores it. What used to be a scattergun “spray and pray” campaign is evolving into continuous, adaptive manipulation that is designed to erode human vigilance over time.
Employees are no longer just targets for a one-off email. They may be engaged, probed and influenced repeatedly, day after day. This shift needs a new level of organisational awareness and defence.
What’s beneath the surface?
Complex software inevitably contains flaws. With potentially one defect in every few thousand lines of code, complex systems will have thousands of hidden vulnerabilities. Many of these are zero-day flaws so are unpatched and unknown.
Until recently, exploiting these vulnerabilities required skill, patience and luck. Agentic AI is changing that. These systems can automatically scan repositories, fuzz applications and, in some cases, chain small weaknesses into working exploits within hours.
While IT teams operate on patch cycles that are measured in weeks or months, AI adversaries discover and weaponise vulnerabilities continuously. Every unpatched flaw becomes a potential attack vector. The result is a growing backlog of exploitable weaknesses, while defenders are reacting instead of proactively securing systems.
Scaling attacks without sleeping
Criminal groups already breach hundreds of victims at once. With agentic AI, the scale and pace of these attacks multiply exponentially. These systems never sleep, don’t need supervision and operate globally. They crawl the internet, identify new targets, generate phishing kits and manage ransom negotiations automatically.
Some ransomware operations now use chatbots to “support” victims during extortion. Agentic AI will take this further with the ability to negotiate in multiple languages, adjust demands based on financial reports and coordinate simultaneous campaigns across regions.
What once needed a coordinated human team can now be executed by tireless machines.
Agentic AI also automates the financial side of cybercrime. Cryptocurrency payments are processed, laundered and reinvested in new tools at speed. Each successful breach funds the next, creating a growth cycle similar to algorithmic trading but applied to illicit activity.
The result is a self-sustaining ecosystem of attack and reinvestment, where human bottlenecks no longer limit expansion.
Zero Trust at the base of the iceberg
Zero Trust – never trust, always verify – is the framework organisations aspire to. Yet full implementation remains elusive. Endpoints are inconsistently patched, multi-factor authentication doesn’t cover every application, networks are too flat and encrypted traffic often goes unmonitored.
These are precisely the gaps agentic adversaries exploit. They probe continuously, pivot when blocked and target unmonitored weaknesses. Meanwhile, security teams struggle to scale by headcount, while attackers scale by AI.
The reality is stark. Traditional defences, designed for human-paced attacks, are increasingly insufficient against autonomous adversaries. Organisations must rethink not just the tools they use but also strategy, architecture and response workflows.
AI for defence
The same capabilities that make agentic AI dangerous can be harnessed to defend against it. Future security operations will need to blend AI speed with human insight.
Imagine telemetry fused from every endpoint, firewall and identity provider. Real-time policy enforcement at every edge. Encrypted traffic decrypted, inspected and re-secured in milliseconds. AI systems that detect, contain and remediate threats automatically to secure systems before analysts are even alerted.
This isn’t science fiction. Analysts will remain critical for strategy, oversight and judgment. But AI can manage the first thousand moves of an attack, enabling proactive rather than reactive defence.
When executed at scale, Zero Trust becomes enforceable rather than aspirational, offering visibility and control across systems that were previously blind spots.
Adapting to the iceberg
Returning to the iceberg analogy, where the visible threats such as deepfakes and phishing are just the tip. Then there is the hidden mass below, including zero-day exploits, automated ransomware and agentic adversaries, which is growing rapidly.
Organisations that fail to adapt risk being caught off guard. And those that integrate AI into defence operations can tip the balance back toward security.
The key is speed and integration. AI allows defenders to act faster than attackers can adapt, shrinking gaps, shortening response times and making risk more manageable. It requires a rethinking of operations, embracing automation and blending human judgment with machine precision.
