AI in cyberdefense: Learning from threat actors' playbooks | TechTarget

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When Sun Tzu said, "To know your enemy, you must become your enemy," he never could have imagined how his wisdom would be applied to AI 2,500 years later.

During his session at the Gartner Cybersecurity and Risk Management Summit 2026, Gartner analyst Leigh McMullen agreed with Tzu, in that threat actors have much to teach defenders about using AI. In just a few years, nefarious hackers have harnessed the technology to launch cyberattacks at stunning speed and scale. Yet, security professionals can be just as successful using similar techniques. "The [offensive AI] processes are not necessarily particularly exquisite, elaborate or all that involved and actually present us with an opportunity to create the mirror of them in defense," he said.

McMullen identified four key areas where threat actors are using AI to augment and improve their capabilities, and explained how defenders can use similar methods...

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