India’s cybersecurity landscape is evolving with AI, as are expectations from the tools that protect it. As organisations scale, digitise, and increasingly adopt multi-cloud environments, the demand for AI-driven security solutions has become hard to ignore.
While many vendors have started layering AI onto their existing products, American cybersecurity company SentinelOne claims to have gone the other way, building AI into the architecture itself. But how does this approach pan out in a market like India, where security teams often run lean and the infrastructure is increasingly complex?
In a recent conversation with AIM, Brian Lanigan, SVP of global partner ecosystem and emerging product sales at SentinelOne, shared insights into how the company responds to India’s evolving cybersecurity needs.
From Purple AI to Athena: Scaling Analysts, Not Replacing Them
Lanigan highlighted SentinelOne’s Purple AI, which was launched last year as an AI-powered assistant to ease the burden on security teams. It has since evolved into Athena, a more comprehensive platform that goes beyond endpoint detection to assist with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) migration, rule porting, and cross-environment orchestration.
“Athena is the next evolution of Purple AI…and it can work across any SIEM, extracting a lot of that data and supporting migration,” Lanigan explained. Rather than forcing clients into its stack, Athena is designed to be platform-agnostic, working with Splunk, ArcSight, or Microsoft Sentinel.
SentinelOne also uses a multi-model approach to testing and powering its AI stack. This means it does not rely on a particular model to power things under the hood. It has tried integrating systems like Anthropic and OpenAI and exploring possibilities with Amazon’s Nova and Q Index. This gives the company the flexibility to match different models to different security tasks.
When AIM asked how it stacks up to the competition, Lanigan mentioned, “Whether it’s Charlotte [AI] from CrowdStrike or…Copilot, they’re just not able to match up to what Purple AI has been executing in the market.”
He also emphasised that the human element remains essential. “Artificial intelligence is artificial intelligence with human oversight,” Lanigan said.
“The human oversight in the journey is important.”
Lanigan also highlighted the staff shortages in the realm of Cybersecurity, stressing the importance of achieving close to autonomous results from solutions like SentinelOne’s Purple AI. “I travel a lot around the world. There’s no customer or partner I meet with who says, ‘I’ve got plenty of security staff on coverage.’ They’re always short,” he noted.
Do More in Less Time
With Purple AI Athena, the company is betting on a particular outcome: enabling small teams to do more with less.
“How do we deliver artificial intelligence to help [analysts] do more with fewer eyes on glass?” Lanigan asked.
The company wants the existing analysts to use its solutions to get a broader view of the landscape. SentinelOne systems are designed to extend the analyst, not remove them.
India as a Primary Market for SentinelOne
India’s rapid digitisation has created a unique challenge and opportunity for the company.
“We view India as a primary market for investment.”
“India is at the forefront of leaning into technology and exploring what new technology is out there,” Lanigan said. This includes not just endpoint protection but more complex use cases like SIEM transformation and Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP).
The demand for cloud-native security is particularly strong, globally and in India. “It could be your Kubernetes, it could be your keys—everything in the cloud can be an exposure point,” Lanigan pointed out.
To support this shift, SentinelOne has invested $22 million in the Indian market so far. It has established teams across Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, with solution architects and others offering professional services.
Navigating a Fragmented Stack Without Forcing Migration
Most Indian enterprises already use multiple security tools. SentinelOne is trying to operate in that reality, not override it.
Lanigan said Purple AI is built to work alongside existing investments—pulling in data, enhancing workflows, and assisting with response.
“Purple is completely platform-agnostic,” he noted, adding that many of their customers are using Microsoft Sentinel, Splunk, or tools by Palo Alto Networks in parallel.
What’s Next for India?
Looking ahead, India remains one of the company’s highest-priority regions. SentinelOne’s roadmap includes deeper investments in CNAPP and building partner ecosystems that align with these ambitions.
“We’re still trying to find a ground for ourselves,” Lanigan admitted, adding that the interest and urgency in India is clear.
