AI and the other side of security

Written By Peter Munford

“Frontier Al models are anticipated to exceed current industry expectations, fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. The timeline is not years, it is months.” – Leaders of the Five Eyes cyber security agencies, June 2026.

Over the summer, calls to action were issued by the Five Eyes security alliance and OpenAI on the cyber threat posed by frontier AI.

While both consider that AI will – in time – improve cyber defence, the immediate threat is that it gives the advantage to attackers. The time for action, they say, is now.  That includes strengthening security. But it also means preparing in advance for security to fail.

“Breaches will occur. Preparedness helps you contain them quickly and prevent escalation into major operational and financial crises.” – Leaders of the Five Eyes cyber security agencies.

Before we founded Vantix Partners, we saw clients investing heavily in cyber security programmes, but paying less attention to preparing to respond well should that security fail.

That’s why we focus on preparedness and resilience. We believe it is vital to balance investment in keeping secure and in responding confidently.

  • Better security makes it less likely that an attack will get through

  • Better preparedness makes it less likely that a breach will become a crisis

Our principles for good cyber preparedness

  • ‘Will’ not ‘should’:  You already have plans that say what people should do if a cyber attack happens. Build your response preparation around what people really will do, including the human, emotional, and relationship pressures.

  • Preparedness is a practice, not an event: Regular short discussions build readiness better than one half-day exercise a year.

  • Focus on how your business operates: You cannot predict the next cyber threat. You can understand how your business will keep running if it hits.

  • Challenge assumptions: It is easy to believe you will succeed where others have failed. Governance maturity ratings rarely look as good the morning after an attack.

  • Include all perspectives: A serious cyber breach will affect everyone in your organisation, and it will affect them each differently. Explore where expectations differ and where experience and expertise can be shared.

 How we can help

“Run tabletop exercises with your teams to mock up how these attacks might manifest in your organizations and how you will respond.” – Greg Brockman, President of OpenAI

 Drawing on our team’s first-hand experience of cyber threats, crisis response and organisational preparedness, we can:

  • Deliver constructive external review and challenge of your resilience and preparedness approach;

  • Benchmark your preparedness against others using our bespoke Vantix Resilience Index; and

  • Run a high-frequency, low-touch resilience programme across the organisation to build muscle memory and strengthen teamwork.

Contact us to arrange a short discussion about how your organisation would respond to an AI-enabled cyber incident.

Peter Munford
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AI and the GC