Fighting AI with AI: How Darwinium is Reshaping Fraud Defense
AI agents are increasingly present throughout the customer journey—from product discovery to checkout. Fraudsters, however, are also leveraging these AI tools, often with impressive effectiveness. To counter this, Darwinium, a leader in cyberfraud prevention, has introduced two AI-powered features: Beagle and Copilot. These tools simulate adversarial behavior and equip security teams to stay a step ahead of evolving threats.
Unveiled just before Black Hat USA 2025, Beagle and Copilot provide defenders with AI capabilities that mirror those used by attackers. Beagle performs red-team testing on digital journeys using autonomous agents, while Copilot assists security teams in detecting threats and optimizing defenses through intelligent analysis native to the platform.
“Both your best customers and your biggest adversaries are now using agentic AI,” said Alisdair Faulkner, CEO and co-founder of Darwinium. “Solving that problem requires a platform that speaks the same language.”
The Problem with Agentic AI
The fraud landscape has changed. Attackers no longer depend on simple bots with fixed scripts. Instead, they use AI agents that behave like real people. These agents imitate human actions, adapt to security measures, and learn from failed attempts. Detecting automation is no longer the core challenge; distinguishing between good and bad automation is.
This creates a difficult balance for companies in sectors like e-commerce, fintech, and banking. Blocking AI agents outright risks alienating legitimate customers and losing business. Allowing unchecked AI agents, however, leaves the door open to large-scale fraud. Faulkner compares this moment to the early days of mobile commerce: “We’re at an iPhone moment for AI. Ten years ago, people said they’d never enter credit card details into a phone. Today, 95 percent of purchases happen on mobile. AI agents will follow the same path.”
Beagle: Red-Teaming with Autonomous Adversaries
Beagle mimics fraud attacks by deploying autonomous agents that act like real users. It moves through the entire customer journey—from account creation to checkout—using spoofed devices, synthetic identities, and interaction patterns that reflect genuine behavior.
This isn’t a simple sandbox or rules test. Beagle actively probes live defenses, testing biometrics, device fingerprinting, velocity checks, and bot scoring. The goal is to build the attacker and defender simultaneously, enabling faster simulation and iteration than human teams could manage.
Integration with Darwinium’s platform is straightforward and requires no deep technical setup. Teams pick the use case they want to assess—like onboarding or login—and Beagle takes over. It then delivers a detailed audit showing what tools were in place, what was bypassed, and where friction occurred. This zero-integration approach yields high-value insights fast.
Copilot: Helping Fraud Teams Move Faster
Copilot is a conversational assistant embedded within Darwinium’s platform. It aids fraud and security teams by searching behavioral data, generating detection rules, evaluating policy impacts, and automating routine tasks.
Using customer-specific data, Copilot suggests new detection features or rule logic. It estimates how different rules might influence fraud loss and customer friction, helping teams strike the right balance between protection and user experience.
“We don’t believe in bolt-on AI,” Faulkner said. “If AI isn’t built into the platform from the start, it’s just lipstick on a pig.” Copilot can summarize complex risk events, interpret dashboards, and generate rules based on analyst prompts, making teams more efficient without requiring deep platform expertise.
As Faulkner notes, “There’s no one person in most organizations who understands fraud, security, and product risk end-to-end. Copilot bridges that gap.”
Built for the Edge, Designed for Real-Time
Darwinium operates at the network edge, integrating with CDNs like Cloudflare and Akamai. This setup allows it to analyze user behavior and intent as close to the source as possible, minimizing latency and avoiding disruption to user experience.
The platform monitors every step of the user journey, scoring risk continuously—before, during, and after login. This approach uncovers behavior that appears safe initially but turns malicious deeper into the session.
“You can’t rely on perfect authentication at login anymore,” Faulkner explained. “You need progressive trust. That means watching what users do across the full session to understand intent.”
Why This Matters Now
AI-generated fraud is already happening. Voice biometrics, selfie-based verification, and other digital ID checks are targeted by AI tools capable of mimicking human inputs with disturbing accuracy.
“We’re heading toward a moment where AI will learn across a million websites a day how to get better at fraud,” Faulkner warned. “It won’t be a slow burn. When it hits, it will hit hard.”
For CISOs and security leaders, the takeaway is clear: defending against fraud requires more than traditional rules or basic AI. It demands tools that simulate attacks, read intent, and adapt continuously. Beagle and Copilot offer a practical way to meet this challenge—providing fraud and security teams with the smart, scalable automation attackers already use.
For those interested in strengthening their AI and cybersecurity skills, exploring resources like Complete AI Training's latest AI courses can offer valuable insights and practical knowledge.
Your membership also unlocks:
