Proactive Cybersecurity with AI support – A new approach to defense

Thinking ahead, not just reacting – this is the new guiding principle of modern IT security. At the Cyber Summit 2025, Tamás Barna, Senior System Engineer at Trend Micro in his presentation highlighted how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the cybersecurity landscape and why defense strategies must be built on proactive, future-ready systems.

Transformation of the threat landscape

AI is reshaping not only the defensive side of cybersecurity, but attackers are increasingly exploiting its capabilities. AI can automatically map vulnerabilities, synthesize attack possibilities, and even execute attacks autonomously.

This evolution presents a new challenge for organizations: reactive responses are no longer sufficient. Companies must stay ahead of attackers, which is only possible by building foresighted, proactive security architectures.

Current challenges in IT security

Today’s IT environments face three major security pain points:

• Too many isolated tools and technologies that lack end-to-end visibility across the network.
• Overloaded SOC (Security Operations Center) teams that struggle to manually sift through vast amounts of data.
• High complexity, which slows down response times and increases the attack surface.

Adding to the problem, attackers today don’t just break in once – they persist silently in networks, move laterally, and target the most valuable asset of every organization: data.

Three pillars of proactive defense

Trend Micro’s proactive security approach is built on three pillars: visibility, prioritization, and mitigation. Together, they help transform reactive systems into forward-looking, efficient defense environments.

1. Visibility – You can’t protect what you can’t see

Visibility is the foundation of proactivity. Without a clear understanding of devices, applications, users, data, and vulnerabilities within the network, effective defense is impossible.

The Trend Micro Vision One platform enables:

• Continuous mapping of known and unknown devices,
• Centralized inventory and infrastructure mapping,
• Telemetry collection from endpoints, networks, emails, cloud services, and third-party sources.

This comprehensive view empowers security teams to make informed, data-driven decisions rather than operating blindly.

2. Prioritization – Not all threats are equal

With limited resources, it's crucial to prioritize in cybersecurity. The Trend Micro Cybertron AI platform integrates insights from over 3,000 researchers, 1,000+ documentation sources, and 20 years of bug bounty data via the Zero Day Initiative to accurately determine:

• Which security issues are most urgent,
• What business impact these threats may have,
• Where to focus defensive efforts.

By aligning cyber risk with business impact ("cyber risk = business risk"), leadership teams can receive clear, actionable decision support.

3. Mitigation – Preventing attacks, not just managing them

Mitigation means actively addressing risks before they manifest. A key element here is AI-based attack path modeling.

This means:

• The system maps how an attacker could navigate from a vulnerability to valuable data,
• By eliminating a single choke point, multiple attack paths can be neutralized.

This approach is not only faster but also more cost-effective, as it avoids the need for uniform, high-level protection everywhere.

AI for Security and Security for AI – A dual defense approach

A core idea of the presentation was AI’s dual role:

• AI for Security: AI assists in data analysis, threat detection, decision-making, and automation.
• Security for AI: AI systems themselves require protection – especially AI models, data sets, API integrations, microservices (e.g., Nvidia NIM), and user interactions.

Trend Micro’s Cybertron platform, powered by proprietary large language models (LLMs), brings context to threats, provides situational awareness, and predicts potential attack vectors.

Hybrid environments, complex challenges

Real-world enterprise environments are typically hybrid: with both on-premises systems (often not cloud-compatible) and multicloud-based services. Managing telemetry from these diverse sources requires a platform-centric approach.

Vision One aims to create a unified data lake where:

• All security events are examined in context,
• Prioritized, interpretable insights are generated,
• Automated responses can be launched.

Collaboration over isolation

The key to effective security isn’t just technology, but ecosystem-level collaboration. Trend Micro promotes openness to third-party threat feeds, cloud providers, and other vendor integrations. The goal: collective intelligence-based protection.

The future of security: instant adaptation and action

Cyberattacks are escalating daily. Organizations that succeed won’t wait – they’ll be proactive, adaptive, and active. Proactive security is no longer a luxury – it’s a business imperative.

AI-powered proactive cybersecurity marks a paradigm shift in protection – not only at the technical level but also in terms of business strategy. Organizations that harness AI for visibility, prioritization, and mitigation will gain real competitive advantage in an increasingly unpredictable cyber landscape.