arXiv:2607. 28826v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Autonomous Cyber Operations (ACO) are increasingly important for defending enterprise networks as cyber threats continue to evolve in sophistication.
By Konur Tholl, Fran\c{c}ois Rivest, Mariam El Mezouar, Adrian Taylor, Ranwa Al Mallah
Autonomous cyber defense systems based on Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) have attracted significant research attention, yet remain evaluated almost exclusively against static, heuristic red agents, leaving their robustness against adaptive threats critically understudied. Meanwhile, recent advances in Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards (RLVR) have improved LLM reasoning, but their integration into cybersecurity remains elusive due to the absence of suitable benchmark environments and interaction datasets.
The paper explores using frozen large language models (LLMs) to control hierarchical cyber defense systems without retraining across different network scales. By separating planning (selecting subnets to defend) from execution (choosing defensive actions), the authors compare RL+RL, LLM+RL, and LLM+LLM setups in the Cyberwheel environment. Results show that while an LLM planner alone offers limited gains, extending LLM control to execution—especially with a 70B general‑purpose model—yields strong defensive performance across small, medium, and large networks, matching or surpassing retrained RL baselines.
By Harshith Doppalapudi, Nathaniel D. Bastian, Ankit Shah
arXiv:2602. 04809v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in autonomous cyber defence agents trained to defend computer networks using deep reinforcement learning.
By Elizabeth Bates, Chris Hicks, Vasilios Mavroudis
arXiv:2608. 04317v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Autonomous cyber defense systems based on Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) have attracted significant research attention, yet remain evaluated almost exclusively against static, heuristic red agents, leaving their robustness against adaptive threats critically understudied.
By Ryozo Masukawa, Ian Bryant, Armita Kazeminajafabadi, Sanggeon Yun, Hyunwoo Oh, SungHeon Jeong, Nathaniel D. Bastian, Mahdi Imani, Mohsen Imani
arXiv:2606. 18223v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: With sophisticated cyber-attacks becoming increasingly prevalent, modern networks require intelligent autonomous cyber-defense agents trained via Reinforcement Learning (RL).
By Ankita Samaddar, Sandeep Neema, Daniel Balasubramanian, Xenofon Koutsoukos