WEF on cybersecurity: Why resilience matters more than prevention in an AI world?

As artificial intelligence becomes deeply embedded in everyday business and digital infrastructure, it is also reshaping the nature of cyber threats. Attacks are becoming faster, more targeted and increasingly automated, making traditional cybersecurity tools less effective. A recent report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) argues that organisations must now move beyond basic protection and focus on building what it calls “intelligent resilience” — the ability to anticipate, withstand and recover from cyberattacks in an AI-driven world.

Put simply, the report warns that cybersecurity is no longer just about stopping breaches. It is about adapting to constant disruption, where attackers and defenders are both using AI to outsmart each other.

At the same time, organisations themselves are rapidly adopting AI tools — often without clear oversight. This phenomenon, known as “shadow AI”, increases risk by introducing systems that may not meet security or compliance standards, creating new entry points for attackers.

Industry experts say the focus has now shifted from basic fraud filters to more advanced, data-driven authentication systems. These systems rely on transaction context, behavioural signals, and device intelligence rather than static rules alone. The goal is to reduce “false declines” — legitimate transactions that are mistakenly rejected — while maintaining strong security controls.

Professionals working in this space describe it as building the “decision layer” of digital finance — the infrastructure that quietly supports billions of transactions each year.

Mayank Taneja, a financial technology specialist with experience across major global institutions, has been involved in strengthening such authentication systems. His work has focused on improving how transaction data is structured, interpreted, and evaluated to help financial institutions make more accurate real-time decisions.

During his time at Visa, Taneja worked on enhancements to authentication infrastructure across international payment networks. These systems must balance performance, regulatory compliance, and user experience, particularly as cross-border digital commerce grows.

Earlier in his career, he worked at Capital One on machine learning initiatives aimed at improving personalisation and decision accuracy. He later joined PayPal, where he contributed to payment authorisation optimisation and network tokenisation efforts designed to improve issuer approval rates.

The broader industry trend reflects a shift from rule-based decision systems to adaptive models that learn from patterns over time. Analysts note that poor data quality remains one of the biggest hidden causes of transaction friction. Even small inconsistencies in transaction data can lead to unnecessary declines, affecting both customer experience and merchant revenue.

Taneja has also emphasised the importance of governance and operational resilience in AI-driven systems. As regulators across markets introduce stricter oversight of automated financial decision-making, institutions are being required to demonstrate transparency, auditability, and responsible data management.

Beyond corporate roles, Taneja is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and serves as a peer reviewer for IEEE-affiliated conferences and financial innovation journals. Such roles typically reflect professional recognition within technical communities.

As embedded finance and digital commerce continue to scale, the systems that quietly determine transaction outcomes are becoming more critical than ever. While consumers may never see this infrastructure, industry experts argue that trust in digital payments increasingly depends on how well this decision layer performs — accurately, securely, and at speed.

The report emphasises that no organisation can realistically prevent every cyberattack. Instead, companies and governments must focus on resilience — ensuring systems can continue operating, recover quickly and learn from incidents when breaches occur.

The WEF outlines a three-stage approach to building intelligent cyber resilience.

Stage one: secure the foundations

The first step is strengthening core digital infrastructure and ensuring AI systems are secure by design. This includes protecting data used to train AI models, safeguarding against manipulation or data poisoning, and modernising legacy IT systems that cannot handle AI-driven threats. Clear governance around who can use AI, how it is deployed, and how risks are assessed is critical at this stage.

Stage Two: Use AI to defend at scale

Once strong foundations are in place, organisations should use AI to enhance cybersecurity operations. AI-powered tools can help detect unusual behaviour, prioritise genuine threats over false alerts, and automate routine security tasks. This allows human teams to focus on complex decision-making rather than being overwhelmed by volume.

The report also highlights the importance of collaboration — sharing threat intelligence across industries and borders to improve collective defence.

Stage three: Autonomous and adaptive security

In the most advanced stage, AI systems become active defenders. These tools can simulate attacks, test vulnerabilities continuously, and respond to incidents in real time. Rather than reacting after damage is done, organisations can anticipate and neutralise threats before they escalate.

Human oversight remains essential, but AI takes on the role of a constant, adaptive security layer.

The World Economic Forum’s central message is clear: AI has permanently altered the cyber risk landscape. Organisations that continue to rely on outdated security models will struggle to cope with faster, smarter and more persistent attacks.

Building intelligent resilience is no longer optional it is a strategic necessity. Those that invest early in secure AI foundations, AI-driven defences and adaptive security systems will be better equipped to protect data, maintain trust and operate confidently in an increasingly digital world.