Skyhawk Security implemented digital twin technology in December 2023 as a key enabler of a preemptive cloud security strategy as we have long believed that the future of cloud security is preemptive, not reactive. When we introduced our AI-based Purple Team, we built it on continuous, intelligent simulation which leveraged digital twin technologies. Our approach ensures that as cloud architecture and security controls change, which happens often in the cloud, your cloud security team is always up to date on the latest exposures. Skyhawk Security goes one step further by prioritizing these exposures based on the business value of the at-risk asset.

Gartner notes: “Attackers heavily use rehearsal environments before launching campaigns; defenders have historically lacked this capability. Simulations twins correct this asymmetry. By decoupling aggressive security testing from production, service providers can execute destructive malware detonations, lateral movement, and exposure exploitation in the twin without risking client uptime.”

In our opinion, this shows the need for an AI-based Red Team approach that leverages intelligent simulation. The security teams can see what an attacker will do in their environment without impacting production and people.

There are several key use cases that Skyhawk supports with intelligent simulation to reduce exposure.

  • Eliminate Alert Fatigue: Security organizations are overwhelmed with alerts. We had someone at re:Invent visit our booth and tell us they had well over 10 million CNAPP alerts. Ten. Million. Skyhawk Security’s AI Red Team eliminates alert fatigue by providing the weaponized view of exposures and vulnerabilities. It goes beyond what is exploitable to show what can be exploited and manipulated by a threat actor to access valuable crown jewel assets. This is done continuously enabling the ongoing management of threat exposures.
    • According to Gartner, ” The market is rapidly adopting Gartner’s CTEM framework, yet most organizations are stalled at the discovery and prioritization phases, overwhelmed by theoretical vulnerability scores. The validation stage is the critical missing link. Simulation twins serve as a definitive validation engine, cutting through alert noise by providing empirical proof of exploitability.”
  • Preemptive Exposure Management: Skyhawk Security’s AI-based Red Team goes beyond theoretical risk to validate which exposures sit on viable attack paths, and then, which of those exposures put crown jewels at risk. Security teams now know what they should address to truly reduce cloud risk and reduce risk to valuable business assets in the cloud.
  • Stop AI Autonomous Attacks: According to Crowdstrike’s Global Threat Report, AI-based attacks are up 89%. Security teams need to move at machine speed, something we have known at Skyhawk Security. You need to fight AI-based Attacks with an AI-based Cloud Security. Our Continuous Autonomous Purple Team uses AI to identify exposures and vulnerabilities for remediation. Additionally, it pre-labels attacks where addressing the exposure or vulnerability would impact the productivity of the team. This enables security teams to pre-train the SOC team on real attack scenarios so response is instinct, not improvisation.
    • According to Gartner, “Simulation twins enable AEV to evolve from simply executing known attacks to becoming an intelligent, self-learning system. Twin integration allows service providers to move away from reactive security testing and achieve a truly preemptive security posture, continuously validating defenses against both known vulnerabilities and unpredictable AI-driven threats.”

 

Summary

AI Autonomous Attacks are on the rise, and the cloud is the target. Skyhawk Security’s AI-based Purple Team provides a comprehensive approach to cloud security, delivering “left of boom” preemptive security. The AI Red Team proves which exposures can be weaponized to breach your cloud, and then prioritizes those exposures based on the business value of the at-risk asset. Additionally, Skyhawk delivers “right of boom” with the ability to validate security controls and pre-train the SOC team on real attack scenarios so response is instinct, not improvisation.

Check out this webinar to hear from a customer on how Skyhawk Security helps you respond left and right of boom. “No matter how fast you run, you will never run faster than the car. So it doesn’t matter how much time and effort you put into it, you will never be able to close all the vulnerabilities. Focus on the ones that are important.”

This is the essential insight of the preemptive security model: the goal is not to eliminate all risk, that is impossible. The goal is to understand which risks are real, which are weaponizable, and which represent the most direct path to your most critical assets. Everything else is noise. Watch the webinar to learn more.

Gartner subscribers can read the full report at www.gartner.com.

Gartner Emerging Tech: Simulation Twins Will Separate the Competition in Exposure Management Services by Tom Powledge Published March 10, 2026.

Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

GARTNER is a trademark of Gartner, Inc. and its affiliates.