AI is reshaping how organizations operate, defend systems, and interpret risk. Reports reveal rising AI-driven attacks, hidden usage across enterprises, and widening gaps between innovation and security readiness. As adoption accelerates, companies face pressure to govern AI responsibly while preparing for threats that move faster than current defenses.
Attackers keep finding new ways to fool AI
Across the AI ecosystem, developers are adopting layered controls throughout the lifecycle. They combine training safeguards, deployment filters, and post release tracking tools. A model may be trained to refuse harmful prompts. After release, its inputs and outputs may pass through filters. Provenance tags and watermarking can support incident reviews.
Convenience culture is breaking personal security
AI tools let scammers create convincing voices, videos, and requests in seconds. They can imitate family members or colleagues and can personalize messages with almost no effort. These tools make it harder to judge a scam based on tone or wording. Even though people understand the risk, many continue habits that help attackers.
The next tech divide is written in AI diffusion
AI is spreading faster than any major technology in history. More than 1.2 billion people have used an AI tool within three years of the first mainstream releases. The growth is fast, but it puts uneven pressure on governments, industries, and security teams.
Humans built the problem, AI just scaled it
AI is part of daily business, and it is changing how data moves inside organizations. The same tools that increase efficiency can also create new exposure points. Many security leaders say they lack visibility into how generative AI tools handle sensitive information. Some worry about employees pasting confidential material into public systems, while others are concerned about models trained on corporate data without oversight.
When AI writes code, humans clean up the mess
AI coding tools are reshaping how software is written, tested, and secured. They promise speed, but that speed comes with a price. Most organizations now use AI to write production code, and many have seen new vulnerabilities appear because of it.
The study surveyed 450 professionals across the US and Europe, including developers, application security engineers, and security leaders. The results show that AI is moving fast inside software teams, but the security guardrails have not caught up.
Everyone’s adopting AI, few are managing the risk
AI is spreading across enterprise risk functions, but confidence in those systems remains uneven. More than half of organizations report implementing AI-specific tools, and many are training teams in machine learning skills. Yet, few feel prepared for the governance requirements that will come with new AI regulations.
90% aren’t ready for AI attacks, are you?
As AI reshapes business, 90% of organizations are not adequately prepared to secure their AI-driven future. Globally, 63% of companies are in the “Exposed Zone,” indicating they lack both a cohesive cybersecurity strategy and necessary technical capabilities. AI adoption has accelerated the speed, scale and sophistication of cyber threats, far outpacing current enterprise cyber defenses. For example, 77% of organizations lack the essential data and AI security practices needed to protect critical business models, data pipelines and cloud infrastructure.
AI is forcing boards to rethink how they govern security
Boards are spending more time on cybersecurity but still struggle to show how investments improve business performance. The focus has shifted from whether to fund protection to how to measure its return and ensure it supports growth. AI, automation, and edge technologies are reshaping operations, and directors now deal with faster, more complex risks that demand oversight.
Everyone wants AI, but few are ready to defend it
The rush to deploy AI is reshaping how companies think about risk. A global study finds that while most organizations are moving quickly to adopt AI, many are not ready for the pressure it puts on their systems and security. A small group of companies have managed to stay ahead. These “Pacesetters” treat AI readiness as part of their long-term strategy. They plan for scale, build solid infrastructure, and take security seriously.
AI gives ransomware gangs a deadly upgrade
Ransomware continues to be the major threat to large and medium-sized businesses, with numerous ransomware gangs abusing AI for automation. The rise of AI-powered cyberthreats has fueled the growth of cybercrime-as-a-service (CaaS) models. On the dark web, AI tools and services are being made available to less technically skilled criminals, giving more people access to sophisticated attack capabilities. This trend is lowering the barrier to entry for cybercrime, allowing a wider range of actors to carry out attacks.
One in three security teams trust AI to act autonomously
While AI adoption is widespread, its impact on productivity, trust, and team structure varies sharply by role and region. 71% of executives believe AI has significantly improved productivity across their security teams, yet only 22% of analysts — those closest to the tools — agree. This perception gap reveals more than a difference in opinion; it underscores a deeper issue with operational effectiveness and trust.
AI is challenging the geopolitical status quo
AI-powered cyberattacks are becoming powerful new weapons. Organizations need to act fast to close the gap between today’s defenses and tomorrow’s threats. These attacks are only going to grow. 73% of IT leaders worry that nation-states are using AI to launch smarter, more targeted attacks. 58% of organizations admit that they currently only respond to threats as they occur, or after the damage has already been done.
89% of enterprise AI usage is invisible to the organization
Organizations have zero visibility into 89% of AI usage, despite security policies. 90% AI usage is concentrated in large, well-known apps, but there is a long tail of shadow AI applications. ChatGPT alone accounts for 50% of enterprise usage, and the top 5 AI SaaS apps for 85% of AI usage.
However, outside of the handful of well-known apps there is a long tail of lesser-used AI tools that fly under the radar. As a result, security manages don’t know which other AI apps are used, and where to put controls.
Enterprises invest heavily in AI-powered solutions
AI is driving significant changes in attack sources, with 88% of enterprises observing an increase in AI-powered bot attacks in the last two years. 53% said they have lost between $10 million to over $500 million during the past two years due to negative consequences related to cyberattacks.
Enterprises are investing heavily in AI-powered solutions, which make up 21% of cybersecurity budgets today and will increase to 27% by 2026. 62% of respondents reveal they derive greater value from purchasing AI-powered cybersecurity solutions than building them in-house.
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