AI Is Accelerating Cyberattacks Faster Than Defenses

Agentic AI , Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning , Identity & Access Management AI Is Accelerating Cyberattacks Faster Than Defenses Okta's Brett Winterford on Identity Threats and Agentic AI Risks Jennifer Lawinski • April 8, 2026     Share Post Share Credit Eligible Get Permission Brett Winterford, vice president, Okta Threat Intelligence, Okta Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the threat landscape, enabling attackers to move faster, scale operations and exploit identity-based vulnerabilities in ways that traditional defenses were not designed to handle. Brett Winterford, vice president at Okta Threat Intelligence, said AI is allowing adversaries to collapse multiple stages of an attack and execute them in parallel, dramatically increasing the speed and complexity of intrusions. See Also: Defending Identity in the Age of AI Attacks Winterford said this shift forces organizations to rethink long-standing risk assumptions. Attacks that once required time, effort and persistence can now be automated and iterated by AI agents, making previously tolerable vulnerabilities far more exploitable. "Because we now have AI augmented attacks in which the threat actor is able to collapse multiple stages of the attack and run them in parallel, the speed at which the events are recorded in your logs is dramatically faster," Winterford said. A key concern is the growing focus on identity as the primary attack surface. From phishing-resistant authentication to token management and secrets governance, Winterford said organizations must prioritize controls that limit the blast radius of compromised credentials. He also warned of emerging risks tied to "shadow agents"- unsanctioned AI systems connected to enterprise data - and the accumulation of "identity debt" from insecure implementation practices. In this audio interview with ISMG, Winterford also discussed: How AI is accelerating cyberattacks and collapsing traditional timelines; Why identity security and phishing-resistant authentication are critical defenses; The emerging risks of agentic AI, shadow agents and identity debt. Winterford leads Okta's global threat intelligence team, which tracks and analyzes identity-based threats targeting enterprises worldwide. He focuses on emerging attack techniques, including AI-driven threats, and advises organizations on strengthening identity security, authentication and governance in an increasingly automated threat environment. Prior to Okta, he held a senior security role at Symantec, and led security research, awareness and education at Commonwealth Bank.