Accenture and Microsoft have announced a collaborative investment to develop advanced cybersecurity solutions powered by generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI).

This partnership aims to help organisations combat threats, streamline technology tools, and reduce operational costs.

A recent report from Accenture, the State of Cyber Resilience 2025, highlights that 90% of organizations are ill-equipped to defend against AI-enhanced cyber threats.

By combining Accenture’s expertise in cybersecurity and AI transformation with Microsoft’s security technologies, the collaboration focuses on four critical areas: modernising security operation centres (SOC), automating data and AI security, facilitating security-centric cyber migration and consolidation, and enhancing identity and access management (IAM).

The partnership has already demonstrated success with a project for Nationwide Building Society, the largest building society in the world, which serves over 17 million customers in the UK.

By migrating to Microsoft Sentinel, Nationwide established a unified security infrastructure that accelerates the detection of cyber threats, leveraging a gen AI-driven security information and event management system co-developed by Accenture and Microsoft.

Key solutions being developed include SOC Modernisation, which utilises Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender, and Accenture’s Adaptive MxDR for Microsoft.

This solution enhances threat visibility and response capabilities in hybrid environments, with AI-driven tools like Microsoft Security Copilot enabling analysts to investigate threats more quickly and potentially increasing SOC efficiency by up to 30%.

Another solution, Automated Data Protection and AI Security, is built on Microsoft Purview and Accenture’s data security framework.

It automatically classifies and safeguards sensitive data across Microsoft 365 platforms, supporting compliance with regulations and minimising data exposure risks in generative AI applications.

Accenture Security global lead Paolo Dal Cin said: “The combined power of Accenture and Microsoft will help clients future-proof against potential cyber threats, keep critical data secure and enhance business resilience. This expanded relationship signals to the industry that we can be stronger together.”

The Security-Centric Migration and Consolidation approach employs Microsoft’s security suite and Accenture’s E5 Acceleration Playbook to streamline migration to modern platforms while simplifying toolsets.

This consolidation can lead to cost savings of 35% to 50% and reduced vendor complexity.

Lastly, Enhanced IAM, powered by the Microsoft Entra Suite and Accenture’s IAM solutions, modernises outdated Active Directory systems.

This improvement enhances workforce access management and enterprise identity governance, leading to a better user experience and potential cost efficiencies of 30% to 50% through reduced infrastructure and licencing consolidation.

Microsoft Security corporate vice president Vasu Jakkal said: “We’re proud to be shaping the future of cybersecurity alongside Accenture, combining their deep industry insights with the breadth and strength of Microsoft’s security platform.”

Recently, United Overseas Bank (UOB) partnered with Accenture to implement advanced technologies, such as GenAI and agentic AI, over the next three years.