AI-accelerated attacks: why containment is now a must

Artificial intelligence is changing how companies work, and just as much how attackers operate. Vulnerabilities are now exploited at a pace that traditional defenses can barely keep up with. Anyone relying on prevention alone is losing this race. AI-accelerated attacks make containment a mandatory layer, not an option.

The numbers speak for themselves

According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, exploited vulnerabilities are now the most common initial attack vector at around 31 percent, ahead of stolen credentials. At the same time, it takes a median of about 43 days before a patch is applied. Google Mandiant even observes cases where exploits circulate before a patch exists at all. The window of opportunity for attackers has never been larger.

A paradigm shift: assume breach

The logical response to this imbalance is a change in strategy: no longer just preventing things from getting in, but firmly assuming it has already happened. The approach follows four steps: assume compromise, map your environment completely, make hidden risks and attack paths visible, and contain any spread immediately.

Containment in practice

This is exactly where Illumio comes in with Insights: real-time visibility across all data flows, AI-powered security graphs, policy-based segmentation down to the workload level, and automatic blocking of lateral movement. An attack that hits a single server remains a local incident instead of eating its way through the entire network at machine speed. Ransomware loses its biggest lever.

The effect: critical assets stay protected, compliance requirements such as NIS-2 become easier to demonstrate, and the security team regains the overview that is often lost in hybrid environments that have grown over time.

What this means for companies

As an official Illumio partner, KAEMI supports the entire journey: from analyzing data flows to building the policy set to the managed service. Learn more on our page on Zero Trust microsegmentation .

For a compact overview of the Illumio platform (Segmentation and Insights), visit our Illumio page .

Questions about the topic or about getting started with a containment strategy? A message to sales@kaemi.io is all it takes. In a no-obligation conversation, we will show you how visible your data flows really are.