Intelligent security at ClickHouse speed: How Cogent Security built an AI-native vulnerability management platform

Cogent Security leverages ClickHouse to quickly process billions of security findings, enhancing their AI-native vulnerability management platform. Transitioning from Postgres to ClickHouse significantly reduced query latency, allowing for rapid data handling across large datasets. This infrastructure supports an agentic loop architecture that boosts accuracy in vulnerability assessment, addressing challenges faced by understaffed security teams overwhelmed by millions of findings. With the rise of AI, the demand for swift and accurate vulnerability management has intensified, as the time-to-exploit vulnerabilities has drastically shortened. Cogent's platform, built on ClickHouse, provides a scalable solution, enabling security teams to filter, contextualize, and remediate risks efficiently. The architecture combines a Knowledge Graph, dbt projects, and ClickHouse's robust querying capabilities to deliver fast, accurate insights. This speed is crucial for security tools to function effectively under heavy data loads, ensuring that vulnerability management keeps pace with AI-driven threats. The incorporation of a conversational reporting system further enhances usability, allowing users to interact with data naturally and swiftly. By implementing an agentic loop with dynamic data exploration and query execution, Cogent has achieved high accuracy in data processing, supported by an innovative Ontology Service that ensures consistent data understanding across varied customer environments. This approach fosters a virtuous cycle where improved speed and accuracy drive more sophisticated vulnerability management capabilities.