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Use Case

AI Security Microsegmentation: Protecting Your Network from Compromised AI Agents

Agentic AI tools are being deployed across your enterprise with file system, terminal, and network access. When compromised, they become machine-speed insider threats that move laterally faster than any human attacker. Identity-based microsegmentation is the only control that stops them at the infrastructure layer.

Challenges

Employees are installing AI coding assistants like Claude Code, Copilot, and OpenClaw on enterprise endpoints -- often without IT approval. These tools operate with legitimate credentials and broad system privileges, making them indistinguishable from normal user activity. When exploited through prompt injection, a single compromised agent can probe networks, exfiltrate data, and complete full intrusion lifecycles in minutes. Traditional firewalls sit at the perimeter, not the access layer where lateral movement begins. AI governance frameworks address the agent layer but leave the network infrastructure -- where attacks actually propagate -- unprotected.

Aerial view of segmented infrastructure representing AI security microsegmentation across enterprise network zones
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Transform network security with identity-based microsegmentation that enables Zero Trust in weeks, not years.
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Customer Spotlight

"Elisity provides technical distancing between devices to stop the spread and progression of a cyberattack. For impacted toxic assets, it also lets us excise them with surgical precision to preserve safe and effective technology-supported care continuity."

— Aaron Weismann, CISO
Main Line Health

Challenge

AI Agents Bypass Perimeter Security

Agentic AI tools operate from inside trusted endpoints with legitimate credentials. Firewalls are deployed at network boundaries -- not at the access layer where devices connect. Lateral traffic between endpoints on the same segment never traverses a firewall. The December 2025 attack on Poland's energy grid showed exactly how adversaries exploit flat network architectures.

 

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Elisity Solution

Enforce at the Access Layer

Elisity enforces microsegmentation at the access layer -- at every switch port and wireless access point where devices connect. Lateral traffic is controlled at the first hop, before it can traverse the network. No additional hardware required -- policies enforce through existing Cisco, Arista, Juniper, and Aruba infrastructure.

 

Challenge

VLANs Cannot Distinguish AI from Legitimate Traffic

A compromised AI agent uses the same credentials and network position as the employee who installed it. VLANs provide broadcast domain separation but don't prevent lateral movement within a segment. Attackers who compromise one device can freely communicate with every other device in that VLAN -- and AI-related threats have grown 91% year-over-year.

 

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Elisity Solution

Identity-Based Policy Groups

Elisity IdentityGraph verifies device identity across Active Directory, CrowdStrike, ServiceNow CMDB, and more. Policy Groups enforce based on correlated identity -- not network location. Devices on the same VLAN can have completely different access rights. No re-VLANing required.

 

Challenge

Machine-Speed Attacks Outpace Human Response

AI agents systematically probe every accessible resource 24/7 without fatigue. The GTG-1002 campaign demonstrated autonomous agents completing full intrusion lifecycles against ~30 organizations, collapsing attack timelines from hours to minutes. By the time a SOC analyst responds, a compromised agent has already mapped your entire network.

 

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Elisity Solution

Automatic Threat Reclassification

When CrowdStrike or SentinelOne detects anomalous behavior, Elisity IdentityGraph automatically reclassifies the device to a restricted Policy Group -- within seconds. The compromised endpoint is contained at the access switch before lateral movement begins. Studies show microsegmentation reduces ransomware containment time to under 10 minutes.

 

Challenge

Shadow AI: Unauthorized AI Agent Installation by Employees

Employees are installing AI coding assistants like Claude Code and GitHub Copilot without IT approval or security review. Unlike traditional shadow IT, these tools operate with file system access, terminal privileges, and autonomous network connectivity. 8 in 10 workers now use AI tools without IT oversight, and shadow AI breaches cost $670,000 more than standard incidents. Security teams have zero visibility into which AI agents are running, what they're accessing, or what connections they're initiating.

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Elisity Solution

Identity-Aware Containment of Unauthorized AI Agents

Elisity classifies every device and workload on the network -- including endpoints running unauthorized AI tools -- without requiring software agents. When an unapproved AI agent initiates unexpected connections, dynamic policies automatically restrict that device to only authorized resources. Even an AI agent with full local system privileges cannot reach databases, servers, or segments it was never authorized to access.

Challenge

AI Agents Embedded in Malware: The Autonomous Trojan Threat

A new threat class is emerging where autonomous AI agents are embedded in legitimate software downloads and developer tools -- functioning as intelligent trojans. These AI-powered agents dynamically adapt to the network they infiltrate, modify their own code to evade detection, and autonomously execute lateral movement. Check Point Research's VoidLink analysis showed AI-generated malware producing 88,000 lines of implant code in under a week -- at machine speed, without human direction.

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Elisity Solution

Network-Layer Defense Against AI-Powered Malware

Elisity neutralizes AI-embedded malware by enforcing identity-aware policies at the network access layer -- the one layer an AI agent on an endpoint cannot circumvent. Even when a trojan evades endpoint detection, it cannot bypass network-level segmentation restricting which devices and segments that endpoint can reach. Elisity operates agentlessly on existing switches -- no local software for malware to disable or evade.

Resources

Elisity Microsegmentation: Accelerate Zero Trust Security in Weeks, Not Years

Download and discover how identity-based microsegmentation protects critical assets from compromised AI agents and lateral movement threats.
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Stop AI-Driven Lateral Movement Before It Starts

Learn why and how large enterprises are reducing risks and accelerating their Zero Trust maturity with Elisity. 
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AI Security & Microsegmentation FAQs

How does identity-based microsegmentation protect your enterprise from compromised agentic AI systems? These FAQs address the most common questions security leaders ask about defending against AI-driven lateral movement.
How does Elisity protect against insider threats from compromised AI agents?

Identity-based microsegmentation at the access layer. When an AI agent like OpenClaw or Claude Code is compromised on an employee's workstation, Elisity's IdentityGraph prevents lateral movement to critical assets regardless of what credentials the agent has discovered. The workstation's Policy Group membership—verified across multiple authoritative sources including CrowdStrike, ServiceNow CMDB, and Active Directory—determines what it can reach on the network. Enforcement happens at the access switch, blocking malicious traffic before it reaches critical infrastructure.

 

Will my data be used to train your AI models?

No. Zero training on customer data. Elisity uses private LLMs via AWS Bedrock in a single-tenant architecture. Your data is analyzed locally within your Cloud Control Center instance. It is never exported, shared, or used to improve models for anyone else.

 

Will AI make autonomous decisions?

No. Elisity is human-in-the-loop by design. Administrators review evidence-backed suggestions from Elisity Intelligence. No autonomous classification or policy enforcement ever occurs without human approval. Every recommendation is explainable and auditable.

 

How do I explain this to my compliance team?

Three pillars for your compliance team: (1) No model training on customer data, (2) Single-tenant isolation with full audit trails—SOC2, GDPR, and HIPAA ready, (3) Human approval required for all AI-driven policy changes. Every recommendation is explainable and auditable.

 

What is shadow AI and how does microsegmentation protect against it?

Shadow AI refers to employees installing unauthorized AI tools — coding assistants, autonomous agents, and generative AI applications — without IT approval or security review. These tools can access file systems, execute terminal commands, and make outbound network connections autonomously. Elisity's identity-based microsegmentation detects devices running unauthorized AI tools and enforces dynamic policies that restrict network communication to only explicitly authorized resources, containing shadow AI at the network access layer without requiring software agents on the device.

How does Elisity defend against AI-powered malware and autonomous trojans?

AI-embedded malware can dynamically adapt to network environments, modify its own code to evade detection, and autonomously make decisions about lateral movement and data exfiltration. Elisity neutralizes these capabilities by enforcing identity-aware communication policies at the network access layer — the one layer an AI agent running on an endpoint cannot circumvent. Because Elisity operates agentlessly on existing network switches, there is no local software for embedded AI malware to disable or tamper with, reducing the blast radius of any compromised endpoint to near-zero.

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Resources

Leading Vendors for Securing OT and Industrial Control Systems in 2026
OT Security Solutions 2026

Leading Vendors for Securing OT and Industrial Control Systems in 2026

22 min read
Elisity Release 26.1: Seamless Migration Paths, Enhanced Policy Visibility, and Expanded Device Management
Elisity Microsegmentation Platform Release

Elisity Release 26.1: Seamless Migration Paths, Enhanced Policy Visibility, and Expanded Device Management

3 min read
RSAC 2026: Essential Agenda Guide for CISOs, Architects, and Zero Trust Leaders
RSA Conference RSAC
Zero Trust

RSAC 2026: Essential Agenda Guide for CISOs, Architects, and Zero Trust Leaders

19 min read

Ready to Protect Your Critical Assets from AI-Driven Threats?

Elisity offers a risk-free proof of value that demonstrates identity-based microsegmentation on your existing infrastructure. In as little as two weeks, gain complete visibility into your asset inventory, communication patterns, and policy recommendations—with zero disruption to operations.
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