RSA 2026 Addresses AI Agents in Cybersecurity

At the RSA Conference 2026 in San Francisco, cybersecurity leaders gathered to address the rapid integration of artificial intelligence agents into security operations, a theme that dominated discussions amid warnings of accelerating threats and calls for proactive defenses. The event, attended by over 40,000 professionals, highlighted how AI is transforming both attack strategies and protective measures, with experts urging organizations to match adversaries' speed through enhanced governance and disruption tactics.

Conference sessions emphasized the growing use of AI agents by threat actors to boost attack volume, speed, and sophistication. Microsoft and Google representatives noted that adversaries are deploying AI to refine phishing lures and automate exploitation, reducing traditional tool usage like Cobalt Strike beacons, which have declined as antivirus defenses improve. Sandra Joyce, leader of Google's Threat Intelligence Group, reported that the time from initial access to data exfiltration has shrunk dramatically, from eight hours in 2022 to 22 seconds in 2025, driven by coordinated ecosystems of access brokers and operators. "Agentic approaches for exploit...