Why every CISO needs an AI sidekick: the rise of agentic security

Security teams are under constant pressure. Not just from cyber threats, but from expanding compliance obligations, fragmented tooling, and increasing expectations from leadership. Manual processes, fragmented information, and limited resources are no longer sustainable — especially for CISOs who are expected to deliver both resilience and strategic alignment. 

Traditional security operations models are stretched beyond their limits. Time spent on policy updates, audit prep, or log triage comes at the expense of long-term improvements. Risk management becomes reactive, and strategic planning is replaced by operational firefighting. 

In regulated environments — such as fintech, healthcare or critical infrastructure — these challenges are amplified. New frameworks like DORA and NIS2 demand more than checklists. They require continuous validation, documentation and responsiveness. That burden is growing faster than most teams can handle. 

Beyond automation: the shift to agentic security

Security automation is not new. But the recent evolution of agent-based platforms marks a fundamental shift — from automating tasks to delegating responsibilities. Agentspace, Google’s AI-powered platform, enables organisations to deploy domain-specific AI agents that interpret information, take action, and interact with systems autonomously.

Unlike dashboards or rule-based scripts, these agents combine reasoning with execution. They are not general-purpose chatbots. They are configured for security operations, trained on internal policy, regulatory texts, and technical documentation. Their value lies in how precisely they can operate across complex systems without human micromanagement.

They:

• Cross-reference compliance requirements with internal controls.

• Draft and maintain governance documentation.

• Automate RFP completion.

• Analyse threat feeds and correlate alerts across systems.

• Review infrastructure against security baselines.

• Assist developers in applying security policies throughout the SDLC.

A practical example: compliance as a continuous process

Preparing for an audit typically means compiling evidence, mapping controls, reviewing policies, and coordinating across departments. It is labour-intensive, time-sensitive, and repetitive. AI agents can change that dynamic. Instead of starting from scratch, the agent continuously maps the current state of controls against the requirements of the standard. It flags gaps, proposes updates, generates policy templates and even builds audit evidence packs — ready to be validated and submitted.

In recent deployments, organisations have reduced preparation time for critical audits by up to 50%, while improving accuracy and traceability. Documentation is versioned, reviewed in real time, and anchored in the actual controls implemented — not in legacy Word files floating on a shared drive.

Strategic leverage for CISOs

The impact of agentic security reaches far beyond compliance. It redefines how security leaders operate. With the right configurations, an AI agent becomes a silent team member, handling alert triage in the SOC, architecture reviews in new projects, support for legal and sales during client audits and security validation in DevOps pipelines

Each of these contributions reduces manual load, improves consistency, and increases the team’s capacity to focus on high-value work. The CISO’s role shifts accordingly: from operational oversight to strategic enablement. This is not about removing the human element. It is about reclaiming time, improving quality, and scaling maturity without adding headcount.

Implementation is not plug-and-play

Effective deployment of agentic AI requires a deliberate, structured approach. The most successful implementations are those that start small, measure impact, and grow in scope as confidence increases. Tools like Agentspace only deliver value when integrated with the right data sources, workflows, and governance models. Critical success factors include:

• Well-maintained policy documentation and risk registers

• Clean integration with ticketing, monitoring, and knowledge systems

• Clear boundaries around what the agent can do independently

• Ongoing evaluation and fine-tuning based on performance

The future of security operations

Agentic AI is not a trend. It is a shift in how capabilities are deployed and scaled. Instead of increasing headcount or outsourcing routine tasks, organisations are building internal intelligence — operational agents that are embedded, trained, and constantly available. For CISOs looking to align with business expectations while preserving operational integrity, this is no longer optional. It is the next step.