Microsoft urges CISOs to govern AI agents as adoption surges
Original title: The CISO’s evolving role: Protecting and defending in the agentic era
Microsoft says active agents in Microsoft 365 grew 15-fold year over year, and 18-fold in large enterprises.
In a Cybersecurity Awareness Month post, Microsoft says employees are building agents that can reach company data, call applications, and act for users. Citing its Work Trend Index, it reports a 15-fold rise in active Microsoft 365 agents year over year and an 18-fold rise in large enterprises. It tells builders to give agents governed identities and protect data before connecting them, and tells CISOs to prioritize observability, identity, and data controls. It also says AI is compressing defender response time, citing its Digital Defense Report, and promotes integrated security operations and agentic defense.
Unconfirmed: The agent-growth figures and the claim that AI is compressing response time come from Microsoft’s own reports.
- Microsoft cites a 15-fold year-over-year rise in active Microsoft 365 agents.
- The same report puts growth at 18-fold inside large enterprises.
- Advice focuses on governed agent identities, least access, and classified data.
- Microsoft says AI-enabled attacks shorten the time defenders have to respond.
- Vendors
- Microsoft
- Products
- Microsoft 365
From the original article
4 min read at microsoft.com
As AI and agents reshape the enterprise, CISOs face two critical priorities: enabling innovation with the right identity and data guardrails, and modernizing defense to keep pace with AI-powered threats. Aarti Borkar shares how security leaders can approach both. The post The CISO’s evolving role: Protecting and defending in the agentic era appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.
By Aarti Borkar · microsoft.com
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