Cybersecurity threats are continuously evolving, and organizations can no longer rely on traditional, perimeter-focused defenses to stay protected. Attackers are faster, smarter, and often inside a network long before anyone notices. That’s why security teams need to shift from reacting to incidents to preparing for them before they happen.
Proactive cybersecurity is about building resilience, an architecture that can withstand and limit the impact of cyberattacks. By incorporating strategies such as microsegmentation, zero trust design, and automated containment, organizations can reduce risk, protect critical assets, and ensure business continuity in the event of a cyberattack.
Rajesh Khazanchi, CEO and cofounder of ColorTokens, argues that many security teams still cling to the old model: “outside is untrusted; inside is trusted.” But he insists this needs to change. As he explains, “Breaches are inevitable … you must assume a breach. Anyone inside the network should be treated as if they were outside the network.”
That “assume breach” mindset flips the security narrative: instead of focusing solely on prevention, organizations plan for containment and recovery. According to Khazanchi, being breach ready means designing systems and controls that minimize impact, prevent lateral movement, and isolate your critical assets in real time.
This isn’t just theoretical. Khazanchi says that many organizations don’t yet fully understand how to operationalize breach readiness, and that’s where real risk lies.
Endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools like CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, or SentinelOne are powerful, but they have limits. According to Khazanchi, “EDR is that commando skill you have; you want to prevent yourself from those bullets, and you’re dodging them. But one bullet can take a life, one bullet.”
In his analogy, EDR is like a highly trained commando dodging bullets (i.e., attacks). But microsegmentation acts like a “bulletproof jacket and shield,” giving you an extra layer of protection even if an attacker slips through. He believes microsegmentation coupled with EDR is “the killer combination” for modern defense: “EDR to stop breaches, microsegmentation to contain breaches… we see significant recognition that they need to follow Zero Trust principles.”
At the heart of proactive cybersecurity lies microsegmentation, dividing your network into tightly governed zones so that systems can’t freely communicate. Khazanchi highlights several resilience benefits:
Go deeper: Understanding micro-segmentation
Khazanchi argues that architectures built around legacy perimeters are no longer adequate: He notes that “Most are designed so that … internally … they have VLAN segmented areas, but not fully segmented environments. They’re more or less flat networks.” This “flat internal network” model is widespread, but it makes lateral movement easy for attackers. By contrast, containment architecture relies on segmentation controls plus context-aware, Zero Trust policies to reduce risk.
Microsegmentation, in his view, provides that control plane. When paired with EDR, it gives you both active defense and an isolation strategy.
Microsegmentation has historically been hard to implement. Traditionally, policy design has been manual, with security teams writing thousands of micro-policies for every workload. As Khazanchi notes, “You’re in a hotel, and each room has a lock you need to program. That can run into thousands of policies.” But innovation has made this much more manageable. ColorTokens claims to deploy full microsegmentation in 30 days for medium environments and 90 days for large ones, thanks to AI that analyzes traffic, learns patterns, and continuously adapts.
Another major barrier, tool sprawl, is also addressed. Khazanchi explains that “if they already have an EDR technology … they can achieve microsegmentation through those same agents.”
In other words, you don’t necessarily need to deploy additional agents; you can leverage your existing EDR infrastructure. That reduces complexity and friction.
Khazanchi emphasizes that many organizations struggle most with mindset, not just technology. He outlines three core knowledge gaps:
To close these gaps, Khazanchi says it’s critical to educate not just teams but also executives and board members. The conversations must move from “if a breach happens” to “how will we respond?”
Read also: How to respond to a data breach
Microsegmentation is not a standalone tactic; it is deeply aligned with the zero trust philosophy. For Khazanchi, the core elements of zero trust—least privilege, segmentation, identity controls, and continuous verification—come together via microsegmentation.
When you apply microsegmentation, you enforce least-privilege and restrict lateral movement. Add context-aware policies, and you continuously verify that communications are legitimate. Combined, they build a containment architecture that defends not just by detecting but by limiting an attacker’s reach.
Khazanchi believes that AI will drive the next major shift in proactive cybersecurity. As he warns, “If today you’re facing five MITRE techniques, tomorrow you’ll face thousands. The sheer variety and sophistication that AI-driven attackers can bring will overwhelm traditional detection and response systems.”
To counter that, he argues you need AI-powered containment systems that:
He also sees growing risk in operational technology (OT): manufacturing, critical infrastructure, aviation, hospitals—all of these are increasingly under threat. Because OT assets often run on proprietary or legacy systems, they pose unique risks. AI-driven microsegmentation can help isolate and secure these environments before attackers exploit them.
Related: The role of AI in detecting zero-day attacks
As Khazanchi states, “Just relying on detection, response, EDR, and firewalls is no longer enough against new generations of attackers.”
He argues that resilience will soon be a core differentiator for businesses, not just a technical afterthought. In fact, proactive security is becoming a board-level asking point: boards now expect detailed readiness plans, not just reactive responses.
Moreover, as attackers increasingly leverage AI, the pressure is only going to intensify. According to Khazanchi, the only way forward is proactive, AI-driven containment architecture, built around microsegmentation and Zero Trust.
Based on Khazanchi’s insights, here’s a practical roadmap for building a proactive cybersecurity posture:
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Proactive frameworks, especially Zero Trust, require continuous monitoring of users, devices, and traffic patterns. This results in clearer real-time visibility, helping teams detect unusual access attempts or lateral movement quickly.
Segmentation generally divides a network into broad zones, for example, separating guest Wi-Fi from internal systems. Microsegmentation takes this further, isolating specific applications, workloads, or endpoints, dramatically reducing attack pathways.
Automation enhances consistency, reduces human error, and accelerates detection and response. While not mandatory, automation strengthens proactive security by applying segmentation rules, monitoring anomalies, and triggering alerts or containment actions faster than manual processes.