Cyber Defense at Machine Speed

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Closing the Execution Gap on the New AI and Quantum Mandates

Presented by Accenture

“The gap isn’t strategy anymore. Agencies know what they need to do. The gap is rapid deployment and operationalization with the ability to execute at the speed the threat requires. AI advantage comes with strategic velocity. Agencies that get ahead of this aren’t the ones with the most resources. They’re the ones treating execution as the mission.”

— Mandy Satterwhite, Federal Cyber Lead, Accenture Federal Services

The strategy is written. The mandates are set. With the recent AI Security Executive Order Executive Order 14409 and accompanying OMB direction, agencies now face hard compliance timelines to secure critical infrastructure and modernize cryptography on an accelerated clock.

And yet, the threat matrix has already shifted. "Mythos-grade" Frontier AI models are turning vulnerability exploitation into an asymmetric race, collapsing attack timelines from months to minutes. Concurrently, adversaries are executing "harvest now, decrypt later" campaigns, and siphoning encrypted federal communications today to break them when quantum computing matures.

The reality is agencies cannot defend at human speed when the adversary operates at machine speed. The traditional approach of "patch it during the next maintenance window" is no longer a viable defense—it is a definitive vulnerability.

Fast-Start Action Paths for Federal Leaders

Federal leaders need immediate, concrete momentum to harden their cyber defenses against a step change in adversary capability. To help agencies move from compliance to machine-speed defense, Accenture Federal fuses commercial innovation with mission-cleared cyber expertise into two targeted fast-start initiatives designed to tackle the decisions that cannot wait.

First: Launch a Targeted AI Vulnerability Scan

Traditional scanners evaluate products in isolation. That was sufficient when sophisticated attacks required sophisticated attackers. But Frontier AI models like Claude Mythos and GPT 5.6 Sol can now chain low-severity findings into viable exploit paths that would otherwise sit invisible in a conventional backlog. Recently, industry AI initiatives like Project Glasswing autonomously surfaced more than 10,000 high-severity vulnerabilities across open-source projects in a single month. As open-weight models reach the same capability threshold, cyber defenders must adopt Frontier AI first, or risk adversaries using AI to identify and exploit novel zero-day vulnerabilities at scale.

To fight AI, you need AI. Accenture’s FedCyber.AI is an agentic defense harness built to test systems exactly like an adversary would. It works inside your existing cloud boundary to deliver three active-defense outcomes: zero-day discovery across applications before public disclosure or exploitation; exploit-chain identification that maps how lower-severity findings combine into a viable attack path, and prioritized remediation that focuses patching capacity on what is exploitable.

Start your Cyber Readiness Sprint : Initiate a streamlined pilot scan of your critical digital infrastructure. Apply Frontier AI to identify zero-day vulnerabilities, triage exploitable chains, and close critical exposure gaps.

Second: Conduct a Post-Quantum Cryptographic Assessment

The Quantum Security EO demands a drastic acceleration toward post-quantum cryptography (PQC), including an OMB-submitted migration plan due in October 2026. Partnered with best-in-market cryptographic inventory and PQC solution providers, Accenture deploys cleared PQC specialists to map an agency’s cryptographic footprint, pinpointing where legacy algorithms live across applications, infrastructure, and third-party dependencies. This visibility enables leaders to prioritize high-value systems and build a defensible migration plan aligned to NIST/FIPS standards and OMB expectations.

Securing the Blind Spot: Operational Technology

While executing these rapid assessments, agencies must also address a key blind spot. Today, federal reporting and industry estimates note that 95% of federal cyber spending remains tied to traditional IT, but adversaries are actively targeting the operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS) that govern the critical infrastructure that powers our lives—from power grids to air-traffic control to hospitals.

The reality is: Legacy infrastructure cannot be patched with standard automated updates without risking real-world operational disruptions.

To solve this, Accenture has made majority investments in leading industrial security groups—including Dragos, NetRise, and runZero—to extend an advanced Operational Technology Platform tailored for federal environments. This platform illuminates once-dark legacy control systems, providing continuous asset discovery, firmware risk analysis, and threat monitoring for critical infrastructure.

For a brief window, defenders who adopt these frontier capabilities have the edge. But that window is closing as advanced adversarial groups apply these same models to run attacks at scale.

The technical capabilities to answer this threat are ready. By using proven commercial platforms, federal leaders can protect their operational infrastructure, achieve compliance, and defend the nation's most vital systems and infrastructure today.

Ready to empower your agency to outpace the threat? Reach out to our Accenture Federal team to see these solutions in action at The Forge .

This content is made possible by our sponsor Accenture; it is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Defense One ’s editorial staff.

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弥合人工智能和量子计算新任务执行方面的差距

由埃森哲公司呈献

“差距不再在于战略层面。各机构都清楚自己需要做什么。差距在于快速部署和运作，以及以应对威胁所需的速度执行的能力。人工智能优势源于战略速度。能够抢占先机的机构并非资源最丰富的机构，而是将执行力视为首要任务的机构。”

——曼迪·萨特怀特，埃森哲联邦服务公司联邦网络安全主管

战略已制定，指令已下达。随着近期第14409号人工智能安全行政命令及相关OMB指令的发布，各机构现在面临着严格的合规期限，需要在短时间内保障关键基础设施安全并实现密码学现代化。

然而，威胁格局已经发生了变化。“神话级”前沿人工智能模型正在将漏洞利用变成一场不对称的竞赛，将攻击时间线从数月缩短到数分钟。与此同时，攻击者正在执行“先收集后解密”的策略，窃取加密的联邦通信数据，以便在量子计算成熟后进行破解。

现实情况是，当对手以机器速度行动时，执法机构无法以人类的速度进行防御。传统的“在下次维护窗口期打补丁”的方法已不再有效——它反而是一个明显的漏洞。

联邦领导人快速启动行动路径

联邦领导人需要立即采取切实有效的措施，加强网络防御，以应对敌方能力的飞跃式提升。为了帮助各机构从合规层面转向高速防御，埃森哲联邦将商业创新与经任务认证的网络安全专业知识相结合，推出两项目标明确的快速启动计划，旨在应对刻不容缓的决策。

首先：启动有针对性的AI漏洞扫描

传统扫描器对产品进行孤立评估。在复杂攻击需要高水平攻击者的情况下，这种方法尚可接受。但像 Claude Mythos 和 GPT 5.6 Sol 这样的前沿人工智能模型，现在可以将低危漏洞关联起来，形成可行的攻击路径，而这些路径在传统的漏洞积压列表中往往难以被发现。最近，像 Project Glasswing 这样的行业人工智能项目在一个月内就自主发现了开源项目中超过 10,000 个高危漏洞。随着开源模型达到同样的能力水平，网络安全防御者必须率先采用前沿人工智能，否则就有可能面临对手利用人工智能大规模识别和利用新型零日漏洞的风险。

要对抗人工智能，就需要人工智能。埃森哲的 FedCyber​​.AI 是一款智能防御工具，旨在以与攻击者完全相同的方式测试系统。它可在您现有的云边界内运行，提供三种主动防御成果：在公开披露或利用之前发现应用程序中的零日漏洞；识别漏洞利用链，绘制出低危漏洞如何组合成可行的攻击路径；以及优先修复，将补丁资源集中用于可利用的漏洞。

启动网络安全准备冲刺：对您的关键数字基础设施进行精简的试点扫描。应用 Frontier AI 来识别零日漏洞、对可利用的攻击链进行分类，并弥补关键的风险敞口。

第二：开展后量子密码学评估

《量子安全行政命令》要求大幅加快向后量子密码学 (PQC) 的转型，包括向美国行政管理和预算办公室 (OMB) 提交一份迁移计划，该计划的截止日期为 2026 年 10 月。埃森哲与业内领先的密码学资源和 PQC 解决方案提供商合作，部署持有安全许可的 PQC 专家，绘制机构的密码学足迹图，精确定位遗留算法在应用程序、基础设施和第三方依赖项中的位置。这种可视性使领导者能够优先考虑高价值系统，并制定符合 NIST/FIPS 标准和 OMB 要求的、具有法律效力的迁移计划。

消除盲点：运营技术

在开展这些快速评估的同时，各机构还必须解决一个关键的盲点。目前，联邦政府的报告和行业估计显示，95%的联邦网络安全支出仍然与传统IT相关，但攻击者正积极瞄准运营技术（OT）和工业控制系统（ICS），这些系统管理着支撑我们生活的关键基础设施——从电网到空中交通管制再到医院。

现实情况是：如果使用标准的自动更新来修补旧式基础设施，就有可能造成实际运营中断。

为了解决这个问题，埃森哲对包括 Dragos、NetRise 和 runZero 在内的多家领先的工业安全集团进行了多数股权投资，以扩展其专为联邦环境量身定制的先进运营技术平台。该平台能够揭示以往晦涩难懂的传统控制系统，为关键基础设施提供持续的资产发现、固件风险分析和威胁监控。

在短暂的时间窗口内，采用这些前沿技术的防御者会占据优势。但随着高级对抗组织运用同样的模型进行大规模攻击，这个优势窗口正在逐渐关闭。

应对这一威胁的技术能力已经就绪。通过使用成熟的商业平台，联邦政府领导人可以保护其运营基础设施，确保合规性，并捍卫国家最重要的系统和基础设施。

准备好让您的机构能够超越威胁了吗？联系埃森哲联邦团队，在The Forge大会上亲眼见证这些解决方案的实际应用。

此内容由我们的赞助商埃森哲公司提供；它并非由Defense One编辑部撰写，也不一定反映其观点。

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