Published on: 2025-03-19

Intelligence Report: Gartner Warns Agentic AI Will Accelerate Account Takeovers – Infosecurity Magazine

1. BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)

The emergence of agentic AI is projected to significantly increase the frequency and sophistication of account takeovers. This technology enables threat actors to automate and streamline the process of hijacking accounts, posing a substantial risk to cybersecurity. Organizations are advised to adopt advanced security measures, including passwordless authentication and multi-factor authentication (MFA), to mitigate these threats.

2. Detailed Analysis

The following structured analytic techniques have been applied for this analysis:

General Analysis

Agentic AI represents a transformative advancement in AI technology, characterized by its ability to make autonomous decisions and adapt to changing environments without human intervention. This capability is being leveraged by threat actors to enhance social engineering attacks, such as deepfake-driven scams and credential compromises. The technology’s potential to automate these processes poses a significant challenge to current cybersecurity defenses.

3. Implications and Strategic Risks

The proliferation of agentic AI is likely to exacerbate existing cybersecurity threats, particularly in the realm of account takeovers. This trend could lead to increased incidents of large-scale fraud and enterprise breaches, impacting national security, regional stability, and economic interests. The ability of threat actors to deploy deepfake technology in social engineering attacks further complicates the security landscape, necessitating a reevaluation of current defense strategies.

4. Recommendations and Outlook

Recommendations:

• Implement passwordless and phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (MFA) to enhance security measures.
• Educate and incentivize users to adopt secure authentication practices, such as multi-device passkeys.
• Invest in technologies that detect and monitor AI agent interactions to preemptively identify potential threats.
• Conduct regular training sessions to raise awareness about evolving social engineering tactics, including deepfakes.

Outlook:

In the best-case scenario, organizations will successfully integrate advanced security measures, reducing the impact of agentic AI-driven threats. In the worst-case scenario, failure to adapt could result in widespread account takeovers and significant financial and reputational damage. The most likely outcome involves a gradual adaptation to these threats, with organizations enhancing their defenses over time.

5. Key Individuals and Entities

The report mentions several individuals and organizations who are pivotal in the discourse on agentic AI and cybersecurity:

• Akif Khan
• Michael McPherson
• Manuel Acosta
• Gartner
• ReliaQuest
• Abnormal Security