Artificial intelligence is compressing the early stages of cyberattacks, allowing attackers to conduct reconnaissance faster, generate more noise, and reach the deeper stages of the attack cycle, says Mathan Babu Kasilingam, Chief Technology Security Officer and Data Privacy Officer at Vodafone Idea Limited.
For security teams, the challenge is no longer simply detecting more attacks. It is finding the targeted threat hidden in a growing volume of activity and responding at machine speed. Kasilingam says AI-assisted visibility and task-specific AI agents are helping teams analyse threats, automate repetitive SOC processes, and map attack paths more effectively.
“The crux of AI-based attack is largely to do with recovery and resilience. Breach is inevitable, right? So, going by that, today what is required more so is to come back in business in the shortest possible time.”
In this video interview with CISO Now, Kasilingam also discussed:
- How AI has shortened attacker reconnaissance and helped threat actors reach advanced stages of the attack cycle
- Why visibility remains a priority as security teams face rising volumes of attack noise
- How task-specific AI agents and sequential workflows can give SOC teams machine-scale support
- Why organisations should use their historical security data and institutional knowledge to strengthen defensive AI
- The security implications of frontier AI models and the potential imbalance between attackers and defenders
- How India’s evolving data-protection regime could lead to more breach disclosures and greater accountability
About the speaker
Kasilingam has more than 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, technology security, and data privacy, spanning banking, payment systems, and telecommunications. At Vodafone Idea Limited, he leads enterprise-wide cybersecurity initiatives, governance, policies, and compliance, and works with government and regulatory bodies. His recognitions include the CSO100 Award and Security Leader of the Year, Critical Infrastructure.
