Topic starter
06/07/2026 9:41 am
TL;DR: Runtime security moved from theory to operational requirement in 2025 as customers, detections, and research validated execution-time protection across modern software, AI systems, and cloud infrastructure, according to Oligo Security. The broader lesson is that static inventory and pre-deployment assumptions now leave too much of the attack surface invisible once code starts running.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Oligo Security: “Reflecting on a Breakthrough Year”.
Key questions
Q: Where does runtime security fail if teams rely only on static inventories?
A: Runtime security fails when teams assume that configuration data, bills of materials, or pre-deployment scans tell the full story.
Q: Why does runtime context matter for NHI and workload identities?
A: Because a service account or token only becomes dangerous when live code uses it.
Q: How do security teams decide whether an identity CVE is urgent?
A: Security teams should prioritise identity CVEs by whether the affected component sits in authentication, provisioning, admin, or privileged access paths, and by whether it is internet-facing or broadly reachable.
Practitioner guidance
- Prioritise runtime reachability over static severity Use execution evidence to decide which vulnerabilities, packages, and code paths are actually exposed in production, then focus remediation on the ones that can be reached and exploited.
- Map workload behaviour to live authority Review which service accounts, tokens, and workload identities are exercised by running code, then compare that behaviour with the authority those identities carry in production.
- Separate AI posture from AI behaviour For models and agents in production, monitor what they actually do, which tools they invoke, and whether those actions stay inside approved runtime boundaries.
Bottom line: Runtime security matters because live execution exposes risks that design-time controls cannot fully describe.
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06/07/2026 9:57 am
Runtime security became the source of truth because design-time truth was no longer enough: static inventories, code review, and pre-deployment scanning do not answer the question that matters most in modern environments, which is what executes and with what authority. Oligo Security’s 2025 recap reflects a broader shift across cloud and AI environments. The discipline now has to measure live behaviour, not just declared state, if it wants to stay relevant to practitioners.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What does runtime security mean for AI systems in production?
A: It means security teams must evaluate observed behaviour, not only declared policy. If a model or agent can invoke tools, change actions, or interact with systems dynamically, then live execution becomes the control boundary that matters most.
👉 Read our full editorial: Runtime security became the source of truth in 2025