When I look at how the security domain has evolved over the last decade, I can’t help but be incredibly impressed and humbled by all the fantastic work of leveling up security to modern DevOps, CI/CD and cloud practices. But as I take a closer look, offensive security (pen testing, red teaming, ethical hacking), long believed to be one of the most effective ways to zero in on real exploitable vulnerabilities with business impact, is frankly stuck in ancient history.It’s almost completely manual and primarily offered as a service, not a product, and while the services as we know them today can provide valuable insights, they’re plagued by issues like being:Point in timeExpensiveChallenging to scaleMost offensive security services focus on volume over quality, often relying on junior testers or outsourced teams. For businesses trying to keep pace with a rapidly evolving threat landscape, the current approach just isn’t good enough.The Limits of Productized Offensive SecurityThe inherent value of offensive security is the ability to do away with managing millions of unverified vulnerabilities and to focus only on those vulnerabilities that are actually exploitable and can have tangible business impact. It’s the ultimate reality check.There’s no guesswork or theoretical risk management. Offensive security shows you exactly what an attacker could achieve if they targeted your business today.Infrastructure-focused offensive security tools have made strides in automating pen testing for networks, but when it comes to web applications and other customer-facing assets, productized solutions consistently fall short.This comes back to the well-known last-mile problem in every system and domain, whether it’s DevOps, DevSecOps or AppSec. That’s because every application is different, every business faces unique risks and the human-like reasoning required to navigate these nuances has historically been impossible to replicate. Tools end up relying on hardcoded use cases that are superficial and largely cater to the lowest common denominator. Except there simply is no one-size-fits-all approach with the complexity of modern systems and applications.This mirrors the failure of the DAST (dynamic application security testing) category, which struggled to provide depth, adapt to unique scenarios or offer actionable next steps.The result?Companies still rely on services for offensive security, not because they want to, but because they have to. Whether it’s for compliance requirements like SOC2, customer-facing reports or for deeper insights into exploitable vulnerabilities, there hasn’t been a viable alternative.Why Offensive Security Is BrokenAs noted earlier, some known limitations of offensive security were transferred over to automated variations of pen testing that simply don’t withstand the test of time.These include:Point-in-time assessments: Pen tests provide a snapshot, but any new version, feature or update renders the results obsolete.Scalability issues: High-quality pen testing is expensive, and the scarcity of experienced professionals makes scaling these services impractical.Lack of real value: Many services operate like factories, prioritizing throughput over tailored insights. Junior testers and outsourced work are common, which dilutes the depth and quality of findings.Compliance over security: Too often, offensive security is treated as a box-checking exercise for audits, rather than a tool to genuinely improve an organization’s defenses.The Game-Changer: Surprise Surprise … Agentic AIFor years, the art of offensive security has been defined by human creativity, which has been a double-edged sword. While this contributed to offensive security’s context-aware thinking, adaptive reasoning and the ability to simulate an attacker’s mindset, which makes these services so effective, eventually it becomes hard to scale.Then, along came generative AI (GenAI), which has been a game changer for so many domains. Security is no different.With the rise of large language models (LLMs), we’ve entered an era where machines can think, reason and adapt in ways that mimic and even exceed human intelligence. This shift has unlocked new possibilities.With agentic AI, we are close to being able to replicate the depth, creativity and adaptability of the best offensive security professionals, at scale.Where Offensive Security Breaks Down Agentic AI Steps InIf we look at the limitations in both human and automated offensive security, we can start to get excited about the paradigm shift agentic AI is making possible.Capabilities that weren’t previously possible for this domain have emerged. It’s:Continuous: No more outdated point-in-time snapshots. Continuous testing evolves alongside your systems and applications.Context-aware: Unlike traditional tools, agentic AI understands the unique structure, logic and business context of each application, as well as the unique risks that each business faces.Actionable: Instead of overwhelming teams with an unmanageable backlog of vulnerabilities, it delivers a short, prioritized list of exploitable issues with real business impact.This isn’t just compliance-driven security, it’s real-world protection.Not So Fast. There’s Still Work to DoLet’s be clear: The technology isn’t perfect yet. LLMs can hallucinate, their outputs aren’t always deterministic and regulatory questions remain open. That’s why the human element is still critical, and is not (yet) fully replaceable with machines.By combining AI with human oversight, we can deliver the best of both worlds. What would this futurist offensive security look like? Intelligent, learning, adaptive LLMs coupled with:Trusted professionals who ensure tests are safe and non-disruptive.Experts who validate findings, provide actionable insights and guide remediation efforts.Compliance reports that come with the assurance of human accountability.This hybrid model bridges the gap between AI-driven scalability and the trusted expertise businesses rely on, and aren’t yet ready to completely do away with (and with very good reason!)What’s Next for Offensive SecurityWith the growing number of regulations, standards and other red tape, too often security has become compliance-driven and not practical.The future of cybersecurity isn’t about reactive defenses or compliance-driven testing. It’s about real proactive, intelligent and scalable protection. Offensive security has always been the most effective way to understand risk, but until now, it’s been overly cumbersome to implement, making it underutilized and out of reach for many businesses.Agentic AI is positioned to do a hard reset on this domain. By combining novel technology that is growing in maturity with every new version, alongside trusted human expertise, we’re on our way to making the digital world safer for everyone.The post Revolutionizing Offensive Security: A New Era With Agentic AI appeared first on The New Stack.