Elodie Collins 
Cyber adversaries hold an advantage because they only need to find one vulnerability to exploit, whereas cybersecurity teams have to defend an entire attack surface, according to Tom Afferton, president of the cyber mission sector at Peraton. In a blog post, Afferton explained that while artificial intelligence can worsen cyberthreats, the technology can also level the playing field and even amplify the “home field advantage” for defenders.
How to Set Up AI-Powered Cyber Defenses
The official identified four principles that organizations must follow for a robust AI-powered cyber defense strategy.
Afferton emphasized that organizations should begin by setting clear boundaries for how AI will be deployed within their cyber operations. Organizations can define the specific missions an AI-based capability will support through attribute-based access control and determine who has permission to access certain data sets and capabilities.
Rather than replacing human judgment, Afferton said AI should be used to enhance it. Organizations can integrate AI tools that automate repetitive tasks, such as summarizing or prioritizing information for human operators to support decision-making.
In the blog, Afferton also urged organizations to pay close attention to how AI models are trained and secured. He encouraged the application of secure-by-design principles when developing and deploying AI systems.
Finally, Afferton advised organizations to adopt a field-first mindset by co-creating applications with operators to ensure that AI tools meet operational needs. Rapid pilot testing allows teams to validate performance, uncover practical challenges and accelerate application maturity.
How Peraton Deploys AI to Strengthen Cybersecurity
At Peraton, AI is already being used to strengthen cyber defenses. The company’s ThreatBoard is an AI-based environment that combines open-source and operational data feeds to identify priority actions for analysts. By using AI, ThreatBoard has reduced incident resolution times from hours to minutes, according to Afferton. Peraton also applies AI to infrastructure-as-code techniques to implement automated moving target defense and deception tactics. Combined with measures such as zero trust architectures and cloud-to-edge resilience, the capabilities help organizations improve their overall cybersecurity posture.
Peraton’s research arm, Peraton Labs, is also advancing AI use for offensive cyber operations. Its AI-driven system enhances learning for red team operators and generates insights for cyber defenders. Peraton Labs also uses AI for mapping adversary digital terrains to increase the predictability of cyber effects.
