Today, security teams worldwide are under immense pressure. They are inundated by increasingly potent cyber threats, especially as threat actors are now leveraging AI to enhance their attack strategies.
Addressing intensifying threats
The modern threat landscape consists of increasingly complex and varied attacks. Today’s cybercriminals are leveraging advanced techniques to breach security perimeters – ransomware attacks are more targeted, phishing campaigns are increasingly sophisticated, and attackers are exploiting new vulnerabilities. Attackers are also launching large-scale, automated intrusion campaigns to penetrate organizational defenses.
In particular, the speed of attacks has increased exponentially, with data breaches now occurring within days or even hours of an initial compromise. According to Unit 42’s 2024 Incident Response Report, the median time between compromise and exfiltration accelerated to just two days in 2024 (from nine days in 2022). In fact, in almost 45% of cases, attackers exfiltrated data less than a day after compromise, meaning that if an organization isn’t reacting to a threat immediately, it is often too late.
There has also been a notable increase in the use of social engineering techniques, including extortion and AI-powered attacks, which have become more prevalent and more difficult to detect than ever before. According to the 2024 State of Cloud Native Security Report, more than 2 in 5 respondents (43%) predict AI-powered threats will evade traditional detection techniques and become more common. 38% of organizations ranked AI-powered attacks as their top concern this year.
To combat these threats, organizations need to rethink their cybersecurity strategies. Organizations use an average of 32 different solutions to secure their networks and systems. This reliance on numerous tools, each requiring specialized knowledge, is not sustainable. To effectively counter threats from malicious actors using AI, the defenders must also be empowered with advanced AI tools. This overwhelming burden on security teams calls for a shift from traditional methods to autonomous solutions powered by AI.
The role of automation in cybersecurity
Automation is not merely a convenience; it’s a necessity for modern cybersecurity operations. A traditional approach that depends on a variety of advanced tools, each requiring deep expertise and manual effort, not only slows down security teams but also exposes organizations to risks from delays in taking action against threats and inadvertent errors in configurations.
Experts across cybersecurity are looking at ways to address these challenges. Palo Alto Networks, for example, released three AI-powered Copilots that have the power to transform how cybersecurity professionals interact with their technology environments, enabling them to focus on strategic decision-making and complex problem-solving. By using simple, natural language requests, they assist with remediation tasks, reducing the time and effort required to identify and resolve issues.
The core benefit of Copilots lies in their ability to efficiently provide information and eliminate the need for manual searches, enabling teams to focus on high-stakes tasks. With real-time analysis and enriched intelligence, Copilots help teams visualize app, user, and threat activities, providing full context for incidents. This empowers security professionals to make faster, more informed decisions without overwhelming them with data.
The future of autonomous security
As we look to the future, it’s clear that automation is a necessity in the fight against sophisticated cyber threats. Autonomous solutions can reduce friction in workflows, including everything from threat detection to system configuration and data analysis. AI Copilots represent a significant step toward autonomous security — a future where systems not only detect and respond to threats but also learn and adapt proactively.
By automating routine tasks, these AI assistants enrich intelligence, support informed decision-making, and guide users through complex remediation processes. Immediate access to vast security knowledge bases and quick documentation retrieval are just the beginning. With the integration of these capabilities, security teams can shift from reactive roles to preemptive ones, focusing on managing outcomes rather than just alerts.
