Optiv has replaced its managed detection and response (MDR) platform with a new AI-driven service, Optiv Agentic Security Operations (ASO), announced at the Black Hat USA conference in Las Vegas. The move shifts the company away from alert-centric monitoring toward a proactive model that pairs autonomous AI agents with human security practitioners. The platform consolidates security tooling on Google Security Operations and Wiz to help enterprises manage cyber risk across cloud and on-premises environments.
Ben Spencer, Product Director at Optiv, said AI is changing the speed of cyber conflict by giving attackers more scale and velocity. "Organisations need security operations that can move just as quickly and see risk the way attackers do, from initial exposure all the way through remediation," he said.
A cloud security engine from Wiz
Wiz will serve as the primary engine for cloud runtime context and pre-emptive risk management. The integration includes Wiz Cloud to map attack paths, toxic combinations, and configuration drift across multi-cloud environments, and Wiz Code to scan software artifacts and build scripts before deployment. Wiz Defend provides real-time cloud detection and response, streaming live telemetry into Optiv's agentic workflows.
Andy Ritchie, Head of Worldwide Channels and Alliances for Wiz, said the expanded collaboration with Google Cloud brings Wiz and Google Security Operations directly into Optiv's workflows. "Together, we're helping customers reduce risk and innovate at the speed of the AI era," he said.
Addressing security operations friction
Optiv's 15th Cybersecurity Field Guide reports that 64% of cybersecurity leaders describe managing their internal security operations as "challenging" or "extremely challenging." While 46% of enterprises have implemented AI for threat prevention, standalone point solutions create telemetry silos that can worsen alert fatigue. Security operations teams end up overwhelmed by unstructured log streams, allowing critical threats to bypass legacy controls.
Optiv ASO consolidates that telemetry into a unified platform. Autonomous AI agents enrich raw log data with runtime exposure and identity context, automate initial investigation, and execute remediation across cloud and enterprise environments. For security teams looking to build these skills, training in AI for Cybersecurity Analysts covers the core techniques used in modern detection and response work.
Kathryn Hall, Optiv's Senior Vice President of Services, said identifying risk earlier and responding faster turns security into a business enabler. "Optiv ASO represents the next evolution of managed security services, combining the strength of our Google Security Operations and Wiz collaboration with AI, automation and human expertise to help clients proactively reduce cyber risk and continuously strengthen their security posture," she said.
Why this matters for operations
For operations professionals, the shift from MDR to agentic security operations reflects a broader change in how enterprise tooling is managed. Instead of monitoring dashboards and triaging alerts, operations teams will increasingly oversee AI agents that handle initial investigation and response. That changes the skills required: less time on log review, more time on exception handling, workflow design, and vendor management. Understanding how these systems fit together matters for anyone responsible for uptime, incident response, or vendor contracts. Professionals tracking how AI reshapes operational roles can follow the AI for Operations tag for ongoing coverage of workflow optimization and process changes in security operations.
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