Cognizant launches Secure AI Services for enterprises

Cognizant has launched Secure AI Services, aimed at enterprises deploying AI and agentic systems across their operations.

The launch addresses a growing challenge for large companies as AI moves beyond pilots into business processes such as decision-making, automation and customer engagement. As these systems increasingly interact with company data, application programming interfaces and external applications, they create security and governance issues that many existing cyber tools were not designed to handle.

The new service is intended to secure AI systems during development and in live use. Cognizant described this as a shift from assumed trust to what it calls provable trust, combining checks at build time with monitoring after deployment.

The approach reflects wider market concern about the risks linked to generative AI and autonomous software agents. Businesses are grappling with threats including model tampering, prompt manipulation, deepfake-related fraud and unsafe agent behaviour, particularly when AI systems are given access to sensitive data or authority to take actions across internal workflows.

Three parts

The service has three elements: a secure Agent Development Lifecycle covering the design, build, test, deployment and modification of AI systems; Neuro Cybersecurity, which acts as a control layer across AI and enterprise signals; and a Responsible AI layer delivered through Cognizant Trust for traceability, policy enforcement and compliance alignment based on client requirements.

Together, these components cover model security, data protection, AI DevOps security, identity and access management, controls on agent behaviour and generative AI risk management. The goal is to help clients manage AI systems throughout their operating life rather than treat them as conventional software.

The issue is becoming more pressing as enterprises test so-called agentic systems that can reason, act and interact with data sources and software tools with limited human intervention. Traditional security products were largely built around deterministic software, while AI systems can produce context-driven and probabilistic outputs that may be manipulated in less predictable ways.

Vishal Salvi, Global Head of Cybersecurity Service Line at Cognizant, said: "AI is fundamentally changing how enterprise systems behave. These systems are adaptive, context-driven and increasingly autonomous - and securing them requires continuous assurance across build and run-time environments. With Cognizant Secure AI Services, we are helping enterprises engineer trust into AI systems from day one and to sustain that trust as those systems evolve."

Client demand

Cognizant said it is already working with more than 250 global enterprises in regulated sectors on digital transformation programmes, including AI deployments. Early work has focused on risks such as deepfake fraud, model tampering and the security of autonomous agents and generative AI systems operating across enterprise workflows.

Regulated industries are likely to be an important market for such services because they face scrutiny over governance, record-keeping and controls when adopting AI in operational settings. Companies in sectors such as financial services, healthcare and other tightly supervised industries are under pressure to show how systems are governed, how decisions are traced and how risks are managed when AI is embedded in customer-facing and back-office processes.

Analysts have also pointed to demand for broader frameworks rather than a patchwork of point products. That includes tools and services that connect development-stage testing with controls in production while fitting into existing security and compliance operations.

Arjun Chauhan, Practise Director at Everest Group, said: "In today's rapidly evolving landscape, organizations are increasingly looking for a more holistic approach to AI security that moves beyond siloed solutions. There is a growing need for unified frameworks that can address risks across both the build phase and the run-and-operate lifecycle. Additionally, the ability to integrate best-of-breed technologies into a cohesive, operationalized model is becoming critical to drive real-world impact. Platforms that offer a strong, unified cybersecurity foundation, while seamlessly extending to AI-specific security capabilities, are likely to be positioned well to deliver scalable and enterprise-ready outcomes."

The launch adds to the fast-developing market for AI security and governance services as large technology suppliers, specialist cyber firms and consultancies position themselves around enterprise AI adoption. For service providers such as Cognizant, the opportunity lies in linking advisory work, implementation and managed security services to clients' broader AI roll-outs, especially where those systems are used in regulated and business-critical environments.