Cyber Threats, Agentic AI, and Resilience: An Industry Perspective

The cyber threat horizon has sharply escalated. The NCSC’s 2025 Annual Review reported 204 nationally significant incidents, more than double the prior year, while government-commissioned research estimated the annual cost to UK businesses at £14.7 billion. High-profile incidents from the NHS Synnovis attack to the M&S ransomware breach have demonstrated that cyber risk is no longer a back-office concern but a matter of operational survival and national resilience.

At the same time, the emergence of agentic AI, autonomous systems capable of planning, reasoning, and executing multi-step tasks, is transforming both sides of the cyber equation. The first publicly documented AI-orchestrated cyber espionage campaign was disclosed in late 2025, while frameworks such as the OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications and the NCSC’s updated Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF 4.0) are racing to keep pace with these new realities.

This session draws entirely on personal opinions & views, publicly available data, published reports, and industry research to explore three interconnected themes: the current threat landscape and its real-world impact; how agentic AI is reshaping both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities; and how national frameworks including CAF 4.0 are evolving to address AI, threat hunting, and software supply chain risks. The discussion aims to bridge the gap between academic research and operational reality, highlighting where computer science faculty and researchers can make the greatest contribution to national cyber resilience. The session will be accessible, non-technical in depth, and grounded in verifiable public sources throughout.