From Phishing Bots to Autonomous Agents: How AI Is Transforming Cybersecurity Threats and Defenses

Priyansh Vats

From Phishing Bots to Autonomous Agents: How AI Is Transforming Cybersecurity Threats and Defenses

Author(s)	Mr. Priyansh Vats
Country	India
Abstract	AI technology is revolutionizing the field of cybersecurity by altering not only the attack methodologies but also the defense tools. The earlier kinds of cyber attacks were dependent upon general phishing emails, malware scripts, credential hacking, ransomware, and exploiting the already existing vulnerabilities. However, the emergence of new types of AI such as generative AI and agentic AI has changed the dynamics of the attacks. Now AI can be used by attackers for generating persuasive phishing attacks, automated social engineering, impersonating identities through synthetic media, faster reconnaissance, malware creation, and exploiting the human element. Meanwhile, AI technology is becoming an integral part of cyber defense in terms of anomaly detection, log analysis, threat intelligence, prioritization of vulnerabilities, and incident responses. In this paper, a review of secondary sources of information will be conducted with regard to governmental agencies, cybersecurity companies, technical frameworks, and academic papers. The purpose of this study is to explain how AI is revolutionizing the cybersecurity process and to claim that AI is transforming cybersecurity in three stages, starting from deception through acceleration to an agentic attack surface. The paper concludes that cybersecurity must shift from static detection and isolated technical controls toward identity-centered defense, human oversight, secure AI development, agentic threat modeling, and collaborative incident reporting.
Keywords	artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, phishing, generative AI, agentic AI, ransomware, social engineering, AI governance, cyber defense
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 4, July-August 2026
Published On	2026-08-16

View / Download PDF File

About IJFMR Fees & Payment Current Issue Publication Archive	Submit Research Paper Track Submission Status Publication Guidelines Publication Ethics Peer Review & Plagiarism	Join as a Reviewer Editors & Reviewers Reviewer Referral Program Get Reviewer Membership Certi.	Website/Journal Policies Usage Policy Content Policies Privacy Policy

Contact Us		+91-9687-828-838	editor@ijfmr.com

International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

From Phishing Bots to Autonomous Agents: How AI Is Transforming Cybersecurity Threats and Defenses

Share this