Agentic AI unlocks exciting possibilities for network simplification and scaling. Many of the simple tasks that make up network management, including monitoring traffic flows, identifying anomalies, filtering, and logging, can be reassigned to AI agents that will reduce friction and manual work.
Unfortunately, as our CTO and SVP of Engineering, Anirban Sengupta, wrote about for Unite AI, these AI agents are valuable targets for threat actors. Someone who can hack just one of your AI agents can use it to steal data and unleash malware, often without detection. To maximize the potential of agentic AI without compromising security, security teams must implement zero trust principles in cloud architecture and operations.
This blog explores how Aviatrix’s Cloud Native Security Fabric (CNSF) solution helps you implement cloud network security at each of the four stages of agentic AI: perception and data collection, decision making, execution, and learning.
The Cloud Network Security Challenges of Agentic AI
As Anirban explained in his article, AI agents follow four basic steps:
Perception and data collection
Decision-making
Action and execution
Learning.
AI agents cycle through these four steps to become more efficient and adapt.
Aviatrix’s Cloud Native Security Fabric can address security challenges at each of these four steps:
1. Collecting Data Securely
AI agents need to gather and analyze high volumes of data – including sensitive PII data. Compliance regulations like HIPPA and GDPR require organizations to create highly secure and auditable storage and transit solutions for this data.
Aviatrix’s CNSF can help agentic AI collect and secure sensitive data through High Performance Encryption (HPE), a patented solution that secures data while providing performance of up to 100 Gbps. HPE closes security gaps around data collection for AI agents without compromising security.
2. Protecting Connectivity for Decision-Making
To make decisions based on the data they’ve gathered, AI agents require access to correct models and AI and ML infrastructure. That access requires secure connectivity, visibility, and anomaly detection to prevent data theft.
Aviatrix’s Cloud Firewall provides secure connectivity through network-wide visibility, threat detection, egress filtering, and policy enforcement.
3. Offering Visibility into Action and Execution
After collecting data and making a decision, AI agents execute a plan. However, a “black box” of AI agents – or worse, multiple AI agents that could unknowingly conflict and obstruct each other – is a waste of security teams’ resources. Organizations need to be able to observe and trace AI actions in real time.
Aviatrix helps provide that observability and traceability through its centralized control solution, Aviatrix CoPilot, which provides real-time telemetry, traffic analysis, threat detection, and logging.
4. Learning and Adapting without Interference
After executing a decision, AI agents evaluate success and adjust based on results. This learning and adaptation stage is highly vulnerable – if a bad actor managed to adjust the AI model at this stage, they could give themselves persistent access and control. Aviatrix’s Cloud Native Security Fabric solution helps organizations stop command and control breaches and data exfiltration through:
Egress filtering – If a bad actor uses AI to infiltrate a system, Aviatrix’s egress filtering prevents them from smuggling data out.
Network segmentation – Aviatrix uses its SmartGroups feature to segment networks and enforce security policies, blocking threat actors from moving laterally or escalating privileges to gain persistent access.
AI agents have the power to revolutionize network efficiency and innovation through automation. However, these tools can become significant liabilities without well-designed security policies that prevent threat actors from entering systems and causing damage. Secure your cloud network against evolving agentic AI threats with Aviatrix's zero-trust approach. Explore Aviatrix’s solution for cloud network security today by scheduling a demo.
Learn more about how the Aviatrix provides secure, high-performance connectivity for GenAI workloads.
Explore how Aviatrix’s Cloud Native Security Fabric (CNSF) solution embeds protection into your network using zero-trust principles.
