[Photo: Ilustrative / LensGo]
Vultus, a Brazilian cybersecurity company, has developed an autonomous artificial intelligence platform named Ares designed to conduct penetration testing, commonly referred to as pentests, on corporate digital environments. The development and enhancement of the tool were supported by R$8 million in capital investments.
The technology is engineered to perform penetration testing autonomously by mapping digital infrastructure, identifying vulnerabilities, testing potential exploitation paths, and combining multiple security flaws to determine potential intruder reach. Conducted with organizational authorization, the platform explores attack vectors that may remain undetected during conventional manual security evaluations.
In performance evaluations reported by the company, the platform demonstrated the capability to take control of an account in ten seconds, discover its first relevant vulnerability within five minutes, and traverse a large enterprise digital environment in under 12 hours. Furthermore, during a test conducted by Vultus in a corporate environment that had previously undergone three traditional pentests, Ares identified 89 previously undetected vulnerabilities.
According to Vultus, Ares completes evaluation cycles within a timeframe ranging from three to 24 hours, depending on the scale and complexity of the targeted system. The company states that the automated system achieves a average increase of at least 70% in testing scope, delivers twice the depth of traditional assessments, and operates at an average speed ten times faster than standard methods.
The operational structure of the platform moves beyond basic vulnerability scanning by simulating full attack campaigns. Ares executes a multi-step evaluation process comprising reconnaissance, enumeration, vulnerability identification, exploitation, flaw chaining, and impact validation, generating evidence to assist internal security teams in prioritizing remediation efforts.
Alexandre Brum, CEO of Vultus, noted that as cyberattacks increase in speed and scale, organizations must test their environments with comparable adaptability. Brum stated that the primary goal is to evaluate not only existing vulnerabilities but also the specific pathways they create for potential attackers and the resulting impact on business operations.
The automation introduced by the platform aims to address the delay between the emergence of a vulnerability and its detection by security personnel, reducing reliance on manual selection processes conducted exclusively by specialists. The system is designed to complement human specialists by broadening analytical capacity and allowing technical teams to direct their efforts toward high-impact risks.
Vultus was formed through the merger of GC Security and Trust/Falconi and possesses 18 years of operational experience in the cybersecurity sector, serving medium and large organizations across Vulnerability and Exposure Management, Offensive Security, SOC & Threat Intelligence, and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC). The company received recognition in the ISG Provider Lens™ Cybersecurity Brazil report across 2024, 2025, and 2026, including a position as a Leader in vulnerability management and red teaming. The R$8 million investment funding will also support the expansion of the company’s operations in AI governance and security, focusing on identifying, assessing, and managing risks associated with artificial intelligence technologies.
Leave a Reply