Sun Tzu called it speed. Clausewitz called it friction. Boyd built an entire theory around it. Every serious doctrine of warfare converges on one truth: the side that thinks and acts faster wins.
AI just handed that advantage disproportionately to the adversary.
Mandiant's M-Trends 2026 reports that 28% of CVEs are exploited within 24 hours of disclosure, often before patches exist. IBM X-Force found a 44% surge in AI-accelerated attacks targeting public-facing applications. Offensive capabilities once requiring nation-state resources now cost a threat actor an afternoon.
In the military, the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) was not a framework. It was a survival instinct. Compress your loop, disrupt your adversary's, and you control the engagement. Attackers have internalised this at machine speed. Most defenders are still deliberating at human speed.
This is not a technology gap. It is a cognitive and structural one.
The perimeter was never the problem. The tempo always was.
The defining question for 2026 is not whether the organisation is protected. It is whether it is fast enough.
#CyberSecurity #CyberStrategy #AIThreats #CISO #OffensiveAI
Cisco Live is shaping up to be a great opportunity to explore how security operations are evolving in the AI era.