Symmetric Warfare & Non-Human Identities? Cybersecurity Risks Of Agentic AI – Forbes

Symmetric Warfare & Non-Human Identities? Cybersecurity Risks Of Agentic AI

As artificial intelligence systems evolve from passive tools into autonomous agents capable of independent decision-making, the cybersecurity landscape is shifting in ways that challenge decades of established defense strategies. The rise of “agentic AI”—systems designed to perceive, reason, and act with minimal human oversight—introduces a new class of threats that blur the lines between digital and physical security, human and machine actors.

At the heart of this transformation lies the concept of non-human identities (NHIs). Unlike traditional user accounts, NHIs are machine-generated credentials used by software, bots, and AI agents to authenticate and operate across networks. These identities are proliferating at an unprecedented rate, driven by the automation of workflows, the integration of AI into critical infrastructure, and the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT). Yet, NHIs are often poorly monitored, weakly governed, and increasingly targeted by adversaries seeking to exploit their privileged access.

The symmetry of modern cyber conflict is a key concern. In traditional warfare, defenders and attackers operate with asymmetric advantages—defenders know their own terrain, while attackers must find vulnerabilities. But in the realm of agentic AI, both sides wield autonomous systems capable of learning, adapting, and executing at machine speed. This creates a symmetric battlefield where the advantage may lie not in superior technology, but in superior strategy and resilience.

The Non-Human Identity Explosion

Every AI agent, microservice, and IoT device requires credentials to function. These non-human identities are often long-lived, rarely rotated, and embedded deep within codebases or configuration files. Unlike human users, NHIs do not log in with passwords or biometric scans; they authenticate via API keys, tokens, or certificates. This makes them both essential for automation and dangerously opaque.

Recent studies suggest that in large enterprises, NHIs now outnumber human identities by a factor of 10 or more. Many organizations lack comprehensive inventories of these identities, let alone robust policies for their lifecycle management. This identity sprawl creates a vast attack surface, with each unmonitored NHI representing a potential backdoor into sensitive systems.

Agentic AI: A Double-Edged Sword

Agentic AI promises to revolutionize industries by automating complex tasks, optimizing operations, and enabling real-time decision-making. However, these same capabilities introduce novel risks. An autonomous agent with broad permissions can be weaponized by an attacker to move laterally across a network, escalate privileges, and exfiltrate data—all without triggering traditional security alerts.

Worse, the black-box nature of many AI models means that even well-intentioned agents may behave in unpredictable ways. If an agent is compromised or manipulated, its actions may be difficult to trace or reverse. The convergence of AI autonomy and NHI proliferation creates a perfect storm for cyber threats.

Symmetric Warfare in Cyberspace

The concept of symmetric warfare in cybersecurity is not new, but agentic AI amplifies its implications. In a symmetric conflict, both sides possess similar capabilities, forcing a contest of attrition rather than a quick victory for the technically superior party. With agentic AI, both defenders and attackers can deploy fleets of autonomous agents, leading to machine-versus-machine battles that unfold at speeds and scales beyond human comprehension.

This dynamic is further complicated by the rise of adversarial AI, where attackers use machine learning to probe defenses, discover vulnerabilities, and craft evasive maneuvers. In response, defenders must deploy their own AI-driven security systems, leading to an arms race where the first to adapt gains the upper hand.

The Human Factor: Governance and Oversight

Despite the automation of identity and access management, human oversight remains critical. Organizations must establish clear governance frameworks for NHIs, including:

• Comprehensive inventorying of all non-human identities and their associated privileges.
• Regular rotation and revocation of credentials, especially for dormant or orphaned accounts.
• Principle of least privilege, ensuring that each NHI has only the permissions necessary for its function.
• Continuous monitoring and anomaly detection to identify suspicious behavior.
• Integration with DevSecOps, embedding security into the development and deployment pipeline.

Regulatory and Industry Response

Regulators and industry bodies are beginning to address the risks posed by NHIs and agentic AI. Frameworks such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and ISO/IEC 27001 are being updated to include guidance on machine identity management. Meanwhile, initiatives like the EU’s AI Act seek to impose accountability and transparency requirements on AI systems, including those with autonomous capabilities.

However, the pace of technological change often outstrips regulatory response. Organizations must take proactive steps to secure their digital ecosystems, rather than waiting for compliance mandates.

The Road Ahead: Building Resilient Systems

As agentic AI becomes ubiquitous, the cybersecurity community faces a fundamental challenge: how to defend against threats that are themselves intelligent, adaptive, and autonomous. The answer lies in a combination of technical innovation, robust governance, and human vigilance.

Key strategies include:

• Zero-trust architectures, where every identity—human or machine—is continuously verified.
• AI-driven threat detection, using machine learning to identify anomalous behavior across vast datasets.
• Secure-by-design principles, embedding security into the development lifecycle of AI and IoT systems.
• Collaborative defense, sharing threat intelligence across organizations and sectors.

The rise of agentic AI and non-human identities marks a new chapter in the history of cybersecurity. The battlefield is no longer defined by firewalls and antivirus software, but by the autonomous agents that operate within and beyond our networks. In this symmetric war, the stakes are higher than ever—and the need for vigilance, innovation, and collaboration has never been greater.

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