PwC and Google Cloud to Boost AI Security in the Cloud

Global consultancy PwC is expanding its long-term partnership with Google Cloud, announcing a three-year, $400 million deal to expand the use of AI in security operations centers (SOCs) to better defend against threat actors that are rapidly adopting the technology in their attacks.

The aim of the three-year deal is to grow the use of generative and agentic AI as enterprises continue to move workloads into hybrid clouds. The agreement will more tightly join PwC’s security transformation, risk, managed services, and semi-autonomous SOC capabilities with Google Cloud Security’s AI-fueled workflows.

The deal will better operationalize AI and intelligence for organizations' security teams as well as MSSPs and other security services providers, according to PwC executives. It’s necessary at a time when cybercriminals are embracing AI in their malicious operations.

“This collaboration reflects where the market is going,” said Hank Thomas, co-founder and CEO of cybersecurity venture capital firm Strategic Cyber Ventures. “Enterprises are dealing with fragmented tools, talent shortages, and growing complexity, and pairing AI with large-scale security services can help accelerate modernization. It also signals that AI-driven, intelligence-led defense is becoming table stakes, which likely means we’ll see more partnerships like this.

Kamal Shah, CEO for Prophet Security, which provides agentic AI tools for SOCs, noted that in the company’s State of AI in SOC Report released earlier this month, security leaders expect AI will handle about 60% of SOC workloads within three years.

“AI enables them to move faster through noise, automate repetitive and tedious work, and spend more time on the parts that require human judgment,” Shah said.

Expanding the Partnership

PwC for years has partnered with Google Cloud Security to help large organizations transform their security operations, including deploying and operating cloud-native functions to accelerate them and improve efficiency, according to company executives.

In 2024, the consultancy rolled out its first Google Cloud AI Experience Zone, which gives its clients the change to work with various business solutions by Google Cloud technologies, including its Gemini AI models and services like the Vertex AI development platform.

With the latest expansion of the partnership, PwC will use AI-driven workflows in Google Security operations to automate investigations and reduce the number of alerts and other SOC-related noise. This will allow security teams to focus on initiatives that have higher value. It also will embed Google Threat Intelligence into client security operations to help them shift from a reactive to a proactive security approach.

Cloud Adoption Soaring

This is critical at a time when organizations continue to adopt the cloud. Flexera in its 2025 State of the Cloud Report found that more than half of all enterprise and SMB workloads are in public clouds and 70% of businesses have hybrid cloud strategies. The use of AI-related cloud services is ramping quickly, with 79% of organizations using or experimenting with AI and machine learning PaaS services.

The report also found that 60% of SMBs use MPSs to manage some or most of their public cloud operations.

“Defenders are expending finite resources against adversaries whose AI automation is driving attack costs toward zero, a gap that’s not going to be closed by adding more disconnected defensive security tools,” said Ram Varadarajan, CEO of cyber-detection tech vendor Acalvio. “Clouds are going to continue to sprawl. That’s a reality. To be able to scale with the attackers, AI-first cloud security has to shift from reactive blocking to AI-driven preemptive defense.”

Growing AI in Security

The expanded partnership between PwC and Google Cloud Security is part of an accelerating trend in the industry to bring greater AI capabilities to cybersecurity. Deals like Google’s planned $32 billion acquisition of Wiz, CrowdStrike buying SGNL for about $740 million – on the heels of buying Pangea last year – and Palo Alto Networks’ plan to buy Chronosphere for $3.35 billion.

Similar deals include Check Point buying Lakera and SentinelOne grabbing Observo AI.

“Security professionals are under pressure to move faster and operate smarter in the face of constant change,” Morgan Adamski, cyber, data and technology risk deputy leader at PwC, said in a statement. “When intelligence and automation are built directly into security operations, organizations are better positioned to prioritize what matters most, respond with confidence and build resilience.”