Over the past few weeks, Anthropic has knocked billions of dollars of value out of the stock market. The “SaaSpocalypse” stock drop has just been supplanted by Cybersecurity stocks as the post-agentic era punching bag. The fundamental question, “Can we trust AI to build software?” has been answered. It’s not perfect, it’s getting better. It seems highly likely that the future of software development will be very different from the world we know today. Can agentic engineering fully replace developers? Not yet, but maybe soon.
Can agentic engineering replace cybersecurity experts? That was the question recently asked by AXIS. It’s not surprising that Agentic tools are already being adopted. Cybersecurity is a field of tedious, detail-oriented data analysis. No one longs for the old days of tracking down a large network incident in one local syslog file at a time. Automation of credential management, threat identification and response, vulnerability analysis, secure code audits, and the possibility of optimizing cybersecurity are immense.
It is interesting, however, to note the difference in confidence between CEOs and CISOs. The CEOs seem very certain that their cybersecurity tools are providing ROI, while the CISO’s seemed more certain that their cybersecurity tools were introducing risk. 60% of CEO’s thought they were “more prepared” than their competition in the face of Agentic Attack. Only 50% of CISOs agreed.
Having recently been talking into binging “Bridgerton” by my fiancée, I couldn’t help but hear Julie Andrews’ voice when I read the AXIS report.
Dearest Gentle Reader,
It has come to this Author’s attention that a most scandalous rumor is circulating through the boardrooms of our illustrious industry. For years, the Ton has cried out in despair over a skills shortage, lamenting the lack of eligible suitors to pair with our firewalls and intrusion detection systems.
Yet, a new set of papers from the house of AXIS reveals scandalous events that can only be described as precipitous. It appears that the pillars of our illustrious community are preparing to trade in their loyal soldiers for a Mechanical Turk.
Is it true? Can it be that after a decade swooning over a lack of talent, the Lords and Ladies of the C-Suite have suddenly found their eyes wandering toward the Robot Hounds and Clockwork Guards? It is a gamble of the highest order, in this Author’s opinion, to assume that some mockingbird of a chatbot possesses the discretion, ingenuity and instinct of someone who has been in the thick of it for several seasons.
Of course, were it just another story about AI replacing humans, I wouldn’t have taken quill in hand. After all, leadership choosing to cut costs, at all costs, is a common refrain. Indeed, my readers expect more. The real gossip is about the dissent in the boardroom. Over 65% of the Lords (CEOs) say that they trust AI in cybersecurity decision making. The Knights (CISOs), tasked with keeping the valuables intact, are not nearly as certain.
Alas, it is the classic tragedy of our time: The Lord of the House sees the savings, while the Knights see the new mechanical hounds chasing a hallucinated fox out across the moors.
And what of our dear cousins cross the pond? As has been the case since their departure from our Empire, they are in a frenzy of confidence. Almost 95% of American leaders claim that they are well ready for cyberattacks, with just a percentage point less, sure that their clockwork hackers are paying dividends already.
Contrast that with here at home. The British, as delightfully dour as ever, are at a 70/30 split on preparedness and quite suspicious of the machine’s efficacy.
Given this, one might call the Americans bold. Certainly, we might call them risk tolerant, perhaps even, dare I say, foolhardy? For while the Americans have insured themselves against cybercrime, with almost 95% carrying cybercrime insurance, the British Lords seem to realize that no amount of gold can purchase a reputation once lost. Just ask the targets of my previous columns.
This Author would find it most amusing, were it not for the fact that many of those companies have my personal information, healthcare data, financial data and my secret identity. In a time when the automated tools could be a force multiplier for the current seasoned staff, organizations rush toward scandal, risking everything getting caught in the garden alone with Lord Malware.
Yours Truly,
Lady CISOdown