Digital Encode, a Nigerian cybersecurity firm, has launched DEPAS AI, a fully autonomous enterprise access testing platform designed to help organisations detect and counter AI-driven cyber threats. The launch comes as artificial intelligence increases the scale and sophistication of cybercrime worldwide.
Rising cost of AI-enabled breaches
The move comes as IBM’s 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report finds that AI-enabled breaches now account for 25 percent of all malicious incidents, a 56 percent year-on-year rise. The average cost of an AI-enabled breach reached $6.04 million, well above the global average of $4.99 million. Regionally, attack activity remains highest in North America at 29 percent, followed by Asia-Pacific at 27 percent and Europe at 25 percent, with the Middle East and Africa trailing.
What DEPAS AI does
DEPAS AI autonomously tests enterprise-bespoke applications, web applications, APIs, mobile applications, backend systems, cloud environments, and network and IP infrastructure. The platform is built to identify exploitable vulnerabilities and, according to the company, carries out several further actions beyond simple detection as part of its testing workflow.
A first for Nigeria
Digital Encode is describing DEPAS AI as Nigeria’s first fully autonomous enterprise penetration testing platform. The firm, founded in 2003 and based in Lagos, has built a long track record in penetration testing, incident response, security education, and ISO 27001 compliance audits, and has positioned itself among Nigeria’s leading cybersecurity consultancies.
Why it matters
The launch lands at a moment when autonomous and agentic approaches to penetration testing are gaining traction globally, as organisations move away from point-in-time manual assessments toward continuous, AI-driven validation of their attack surfaces. For Nigerian enterprises navigating tightening compliance demands, including obligations under the Nigeria Data Protection Act and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s cybersecurity framework, a locally built autonomous testing platform offers an alternative to relying solely on foreign vendors or slower manual testing cycles.
With DEPAS AI, Digital Encode says it aims to equip enterprises in Nigeria and beyond with tools to detect, prioritise, and remediate risks before cybercriminals can exploit them. As AI-enabled attacks continue to outpace traditional defence cycles, the platform represents one of the clearer signals yet that Nigerian cybersecurity firms are building homegrown tools to match the threat landscape rather than depending entirely on imported solutions.
