- Digital Encode launched DEPAS AI, an autonomous access testing platform built to detect and counter AI-driven cyber threats
- IBM’s 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report found AI-enabled breaches now make up 25% of all malicious incidents, a 56% year-on-year rise
- The average cost of an AI-enabled breach reached US$6.04 million, well above the global average of US$4.99 million
Pascal Oparada is a journalist with Legit.ng, covering technology, energy, stocks, investment, and the economy for over a decade.
Digital Encode, a Nigerian cybersecurity firm, on Monday, August 17, 2026, launched DEPAS AI, a fully autonomous enterprise access testing platform designed to help organisations detect and counter AI-driven cyber threats.
The launch comes as artificial intelligence accelerates the scale and sophistication of cybercrime worldwide, positioning the fully autonomous enterprise tool as a direct response to a uniquely global and increasingly complex threat landscape.
Source: Getty Images
The threat landscape
The move comes as IBM’s 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report finds that AI-enabled breaches now account for 25% of all malicious incidents, marking a 56% year-over-year increase.
The average cost of such breaches reached US$6.04 million, significantly higher than the global average of US$4.99 million.
Regionally, attack activity remains highest in North America at 29%, followed by Asia-Pacific at 27%, Europe at 25%, Middle East & Africa at 10%, and Latin America at 9%, underscoring the borderless nature of the AI-driven threat.
DEPAS AI: Deep, precise, autonomous.
DEPAS AI: Digital Encode Autonomous System was built to shift organisations from periodic, manual assessments to continuous autonomous cyber resilience.
The DEPAS AI platform deploys a team of specialised AI security agents that operate concurrently across an organization’s entire attack surface.
An agentic coordinator orchestrates the operation, maintains full context of the system under test, analyses results in real time, and spawns follow-up agents to ensure deep coverage.
Tracking vulnerabilities
Every finding is then independently reproduced by a verification agent to eliminate false positives. A proprietary chain-builder also maps individual vulnerabilities into high-impact attack chains, revealing how adversaries could exploit them in sequence, the company said in a press conference attended by Legit.ng.
DEPAS AI autonomously tests enterprise-bespoke applications, web applications, APIs, mobile applications, Backend systems, cloud environments, and network/IP infrastructure.
“AI is now being weaponised by attackers to move faster than human teams can respond,” said Prof. Obadare, the Chief Visionary Officer at Digital Encode. “DEPAS AI combines Artificial Intelligence with Human Intelligence to give organizations the same speed and scale in defense. We are reimagining access testing for the AI era.”
Key capabilities
Source: Getty Images
DEPAS AI, apart from tracking exploitable vulnerabilities, is trained to carry out several actions. Among them are;
- Autonomous Testing: 24/7 coverage across applications, cloud, and network assets
- Verified Accuracy: Independent validation of every vulnerability to remove noise
- Attack Chain Mapping: Connects disparate flaws into real-world exploit paths
- Actionable Outcomes: Executive-ready reports, remediation guidance, and compliance mapping.
With DEPAS AI, Digital Encode aims to equip enterprises in Nigeria and around the world with the tools to detect, prioritise, and remediate risks before they can be exploited by cybercriminals.
Nigeria leads race to build Africa’s own AI
Legit.ng earlier reported that Nigeria has launched a continent-wide artificial intelligence initiative called the Atlas Network, designed to develop AI systems rooted in African languages, cultures and indigenous knowledge.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, announced the initiative on Thursday during the 7th Ordinary Session of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), held in Abuja.
Source: Legit.ng