New Speed, Same Tricks: Defend Against AI Threats with Security Fundamentals
Okta, Wednesday, October 7th, 2026
Okta Threat Intelligence argues AI accelerates familiar identity attacks like phishing, so security fundamentals matter more than ever.
Okta's VP of Threat Intelligence argues that frontline data does not support the narrative of AI agent swarms inventing new attacks, since attackers mainly use AI to speed up and scale known methods such as phishing.
Because the conditions for initial access have not fundamentally changed, controls that stop human-led attacks still work, and the post recommends reducing attack surface and governing internal AI use.
It cites Niels Provos's concept of security invariants, such as hardware second factors, egress restrictions and app allowlisting, which his analysis says could prevent up to 65% of recorded breaches.