Software major Microsoft announced on March 25 its six new Agentic Artificial intelligence (AI) agents designed to autonomously assist with critical areas such as phishing, data security, and identity management.

This is important as the company now processes 84 trillion signals daily, including 7,000 password attacks per second. Scaling cyber defenses through AI agents is now imperative to keep pace with this threat landscape.

“We are expanding Security Copilot with six security agents built by Microsoft and five security agents built by our partners—available for preview in April 2025. The relentless pace and complexity of cyberattacks have surpassed human capacity and establishing AI agents is a necessity for modern security,” the company said in a release.

Microsoft launched its earlier version of Security Copilot a year ago to empower defenders to detect, investigate, and respond to security incidents swiftly and accurately.

Between January and December 2024, the company detected over 30 billion phishing emails targeting customers. The volume of these cyberattacks overwhelms security teams relying on manual processes and fragmented defenses, making it difficult to both triage malicious messages promptly and leverage data-driven insights for broader cyber risk management.

To solve this, the latest version unveiled can handle routine phishing alerts and cyberattacks, freeing up human defenders to focus on more complex cyber threats and proactive security measures.

The six Copilot agents enable teams to autonomously handle high-volume security and IT tasks while seamlessly integrating with Microsoft Security solutions. Purpose-built for security, agents learn from feedback, adapt to workflows, and operate securely—aligned to Microsoft’s Zero Trust framework. With security teams fully in control, agents accelerate responses, prioritise risks, and drive efficiency to enable proactive protection and strengthen an organization’s security posture.

Moreover, as organisations rapidly adopt generative AI, there is a growing urgency to secure and govern the creation, adoption, and use of AI in the workplace. According to Microsoft’s new report, 57 percent of organizations report an increase in security incidents from AI usage.