Analysis
One does not simply defend agentically
Publication date not yet evaluated · Added ncsc.gov.uk
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Single-source analysis — one report is available.
Why it matters
The NCSC analysis highlights a structural asymmetry favouring attackers in the adoption of agentic AI, framing why defenders may struggle to match AI-enabled offensive capabilities.
An NCSC blog post by Dave Chismon argues that defenders cannot deploy agentic AI the same way attackers can, because offensive cyber problems are largely technical with clear success states well-suited to AI automation, while defensive problems are organisational/political and lack clear success states. The author warns this asymmetry may cause AI-enabled attacks to grow faster than autonomous agentic defence can keep up.