From Reactive to Proactive Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity leaders today aren’t short on skill or commitment, but they are running out of runway. Despite billions invested into defenses, the attack surface keeps expanding, and adversaries are scaling with AI. In 2024 alone, U.S. organizations reported 3,158 data compromises (Statista). Across the UK, nearly half of medium-to-large enterprises were hit in the last 12 months (UK Gov).

The problem isn’t effort or budget, it’s the model. Traditional defenses are built on reacting to yesterday’s incidents, while attackers are already innovating tomorrow’s campaigns. That reactive loop leaves defenders trapped in perpetual catch-up mode.

Why this matters now: adversaries are already weaponizing AI. Imagine 50,000 personalized phishing emails, each generated in minutes, optimized with LinkedIn data, and designed to slip past filters. A reactive system sees 50,000 unique threats. Agentic AI sees the pattern, and shuts down the entire campaign before it lands.

This is the shift from reactive security to proactive cybersecurity. Not evolution. Survival.

Blindspots in Today’s Security

1. Time – Breaches take an average of 258 days to identify (IBM). By the time defenses respond, attackers have already pivoted.
   
2. Scale – Analysts work linearly. Adversarial AI attacks scale exponentially.
   
3. Innovation  – Defenses wait for attacks to appear. Offense experiments freely.

It’s not that teams aren’t talented - it’s that the rules of the game have changed.

The Bandwidth Crisis

Security operations centers now face 10,000+ alerts a day (ACM Survey). Meanwhile, the industry grapples with a 4 million person talent shortage (World Economic Forum). Over half of organizations admit this gap already puts them at “significant risk” (ISC2).

No matter how capable, even the best teams can’t scale linearly against exponential threats. They’re drowning in noise, while attackers are accelerating with AI.

Proactive Cybersecurity: Redefining the Playbook

Compliance checklists and annual penetration tests aren’t enough. Proactive cybersecurity flips the model:

• Predict instead of detect - forecast likely attack paths before they’re exploited.
  
• Prevent instead of respond - close doors before adversaries find them.
  
• Operate at machine speed - autonomous systems that decide and act faster than any human workflow.
  

Agentic AI: The Gamechanger

Most AI in cybersecurity is still advisory, analyze data, make suggestions, wait for humans. Agentic AI goes further. It observes, reasons, and takes action in real time.

When applied to identity and access management (IAM), here are some examples: 

• Eliminate orphaned accounts and excessive privileges.
  
• Continuously validate access against business policy.
  
• Investigate anomalies and remediate before escalation.
  
• Free up human teams from endless provisioning, deprovisioning, and entitlement reviews.
  

The Measurable Advantage

Organizations deploying security AI at scale report:

• $2.2M average cost reduction per breach (IBM Security, 2024).
  
• 98 days faster containment compared to those without automation (IBM).
  

In a world where breaches average $4.88M (IBM), speed is the single greatest currency in cybersecurity.

The Strategic Imperative

Early adopters of agentic AI gain an asymmetric advantage. They close risks before they surface, free bandwidth for strategy, and redefine what “cyber resilience” means. Late adopters will be left countering AI-driven attacks with human-speed workflows, an unwinnable equation.

Ready to Remove the IAM Weight Off of Your Security Team’s Back?

Introducing Alex, Twine’s first AI digital employee, who learns, understands, and takes away the burden of identity management tasks to proactively complete your organization’s cyber objectives.

The problem with today’s identity and access management (IAM) tools is that they generate a lot more work  than initially expected: setup, deployment, as well as ongoing upkeep. Legacy systems are excessively complicated, require highly skilled operators, and do not ensure thorough deprovisioning. This results in residual traces, orphaned accounts, and over-privileged accounts.

Before Alex, no technology has been able to fully replicate human capabilities in the IAM cybersecurity vertical - until now.

With Alex, finally cybersecurity teams are equipped with a high-performing digital employee who joins the team and autonomously executes IAM tasks as directed, from A to Z.

Onboard Alex to maximize cyber efficiency and get the most out of your existing Identity toolset.