ESET Unveils AI Security Portfolio as 85% of Organizations Face AI-Driven Threats

ESET Introduces Comprehensive AI-Era Security Portfolio

ESET has launched its new Protect portfolio, positioning it as an all-in-one security solution designed specifically for the AI era2

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. The Bratislava, Slovakia-based cybersecurity vendor is initially rolling out the portfolio to channel partners and customers in the United States, Italy and Slovakia, with a phased global launch planned. Ryan Grant, country officer and general manager for ESET's North America division, described the initiative as a shift toward cybersecurity as a service, though the packages use seat-based pricing rather than tokenization2

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. "When you look at the market overall, everybody is extremely overwhelmed with what's going on with security, particularly now with AI," Grant said, emphasizing that ESET aims to "offer effortless cybersecurity for everybody in this AI era"2

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AI-Driven Threats Create Urgent Need for Specialized Security

The ESET Enterprise Cybersecurity Report 2026 revealed that 85% of organizations in India experienced at least one AI-related cyber threat in the past 12 months3

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. ESET researchers have uncovered AI-enabled threats such as PromptLock and PromptSpy, while detecting thousands of malicious agentic AI skills3

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. The expanding attack surface includes new vulnerabilities as employees adopt AI tools, developers embrace coding assistants, and organizations integrate autonomous AI agents into their workflows. Brad Kostner, executive vice president of sales at Phoenix-based ESET solution provider Adrytech, noted that educating customers on emerging AI threats like vishing—where attackers copy voices for phishing and credential theft—has been in high demand1

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Three-Tier ESET Protect Portfolio Addresses Diverse Security Needs

The ESET Protect portfolio breaks down into three tiers targeting different organizational requirements2

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. Protect Core, designed for clients with at least five seats, delivers baseline security for AI stacks, protecting against ransomware, phishing and zero-day threats. Protect Premium, available for organizations with at least 10 seats, adds autonomous managed detection and response, threat monitoring and containment with 24-by-seven oversight from ESET security experts. Protect Ultimate, also requiring at least 10 seats, brings MDR to advanced environments with live contact to the ESET threat-hunting team plus enterprise-grade threat analysis and remediation. Each tier includes Plus packages offering email security, multifactor authentication, vulnerability management, patch management and other services2

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AI Agent Security and Behavioral Monitoring Take Center Stage

ESET has added a dedicated AI Security module to the ESET PROTECT Platform, introducing two critical capabilities for the AI era3

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. AI agent security provides a dedicated layer protecting organizations using autonomous AI agents from malicious AI components, expanding defenses into the AI agent ecosystem while maintaining productivity. AI behavioral monitoring continuously tracks the behavior of autonomous AI agents, detecting and flagging suspicious actions to strengthen AI agent governance and prevent suspicious AI behavior from escalating into security incidents3

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. Grant emphasized the importance of treating AI tools and agents "almost like an employee," advocating that organizations should test these agents to understand what skills they're using1

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Shadow AI Emerges as Critical Governance Challenge

Travis Woods, founder of San Francisco Bay area-based ESET solution provider Fort Point IT, reported high demand from clients for AI agent governance and ensuring sensitive data remains secure2

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. His work includes creating better "visibility into the AI usage, how it's being used, if these are sanctioned models or not sanctioned models" to combat shadow AI2

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. The ESET tools aim to prevent data uploads to unauthorized popular AI chatbots and monitor AI agents for their intentions, behavior and data access permissions2

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. Part of the challenge involves educating customers on proper data storage and protection practices, with clients sometimes unaware they weren't following best practices.

Human Oversight Remains Essential Despite AI Automation

While AI offers efficiencies in cybersecurity such as reducing alert fatigue, ESET maintains its emphasis on keeping humans in the loop1

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. "We have 24-by-seven monitoring that's watched over by a human," Grant explained, adding that ESET is "not taking our hands off the wheel completely"1

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. Kostner reinforced this perspective, noting that despite implementing MDR and high-level security measures, user awareness remains critical. "We can put as much MDR, high-level security statuses, different rules in place, but if you have end users that are still clicking on things that they're not supposed to, all [the tools] in the world are not going to help you," he said1

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SMB Protection and Channel Partner Support Prioritized

ESET positions its Protect portfolio as bringing enterprise-grade security offerings downstream to small and midsize businesses, helping SMB-focused solution providers protect clients against the higher volume of cyber attacks in the AI era1

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. With approximately 10,000 partners worldwide, ESET aims to help solution providers scale and remain profitable with recurring revenue2

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. The vendor has partnered with Cysurance to deliver cyber warranty financial and operational assurance, providing up to $1 million financial coverage for ESET customers2

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. Additionally, ESET offers Cybersecurity Awareness Training with online education, testing and cyber resilience resources that meet insurance requirements and regulatory frameworks including NIS2, HIPAA, PCI, SOX, GDPR and CCPA2

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Enhanced AI Detection Technologies and €40 Million Investment

ESET is strengthening its core AI detection technologies with an additional €40 million investment in AI in 20263

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. Parvinder Walia, President of the APAC Region at ESET, stated that the investment reflects the company's commitment to helping organizations strengthen resilience and navigate emerging AI-driven threats. The vendor is enhancing ESET LiveCortex, a cross-perimeter correlation and response engine included in the ESET PROTECT Platform, and renaming ESET AI Advisor to ESET LiveAI to better reflect its place in the core product portfolio and its new capability to provide live incident remediation context3

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. Grant emphasized that unlike competitors adding AI capabilities through acquisitions, ESET has ingrained these technologies through native innovation, bundling everything "into a very simple offering" with one unified system rather than separate consoles2

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