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The Digital Immune System: How AI Can Outpace Cyber Threats


June 18, 2025

Author:  Jim Routh, ICIT Fellow, CTO, Saviynt


Cyberattacks can now compromise critical infrastructure faster than humans can perceive or respond. As adversaries grow more sophisticated and the cost of disruption rises, human-led defenses alone are no longer sufficient. We must re-engineer cybersecurity to match the speed and

complexity of modern threats, starting with core operations.


We can build an enterprise digital immune system by using models that adapt in real time, like the human immune system. This system augments Security Operations Centers (SOCs) by autonomously detecting and defending against active threats in milliseconds. The result: greater productivity, lower costs, and minimized business impact.


With AI agents advancing rapidly, the moment to shift toward a proactive, adaptive model of cyber resilience is now.


The Immune System Approach


Our bodies—divided across levels of organization that build on each other—are not unlike many of our networks. Not only do they share many interconnected systems that depend on constant communication to complete critical functions, but they also need to be defended from foreign invaders. In the body, our immune system protects us against external threats. It does so by recognizing the presence of a pathogen

through pattern recognition receptors on immune cells, and in turn triggering a response to neutralize the threat. Moreover, this process occurs automatically and offloads most of the day-to-day blocking of harmful intrusions from our conscious mind, only escalating (through fever or pain, for example) when a real threat is present.


Security Operations Centers (SOCs) play a similar protective role in the context of our networks. However, they don’t share many advantages with our immune system. Most SOCs today are overwhelmed with alerts. Similar to how allergies impact our bodies, SOCs are inundated with false positive indicators, which consume time and attention that would otherwise be best applied to more critical events and incidents. This is because—unlike our immune system—SOCs do not have automatic response mechanisms on

which we can rely to protect us.




Jim Routh

ICIT Fellow Jim Routh is a board member, advisor and investor with specific expertise as

a transformational security leader focused on applying risk management discipline to a

converged security function for global enterprises to achieve enterprise resilience. He has

a demonstrated track record of designing security control using innovation and data science

to align senior executives to deliver world-class level security capabilities to drive positive

business results in a digital world.


About ICIT

The Institute  for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)3think tank with the mission of modernizing, securing, and making resilient critical infrastructure that provides for people’s foundational needs. ICIT takes no institutional positions on policy matters. Rather than advocate, ICIT is dedicated to being a resource for the organizations and communities that share our mission. By applying a people-centric lens to critical infrastructure research and decision making, our work ensures that modernization and security investments have a lasting, positive impact on society.

Learn more at www.icitech.org/.


ICIT CONTACTS:

 

Parham Eftekhari

Founder and Chairman

 

Cory Simpson

Chief Executive Officer


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