Loading story…
Vanta's 2025 State of Trust Report reveals that a majority of organizations are facing unprecedented security risks, with 69% of UK companies reporting higher threats than ever before, largely due to the rapid evolution of AI-driven cyber attacks. The report highlights that 53% of business and IT leaders believe AI cyber threats are advancing faster than their security teams' expertise, with significant increases in AI-generated phishing, malware, and identity theft incidents. Despite these challenges, 80% of organizations are either using or planning to use AI agents to bolster their defenses, though 61% admit their understanding of agentic AI lags behind its deployment. The findings underscore a critical need for balance between leveraging AI for security and ensuring teams are equipped to manage the associated risks.
Industry analysis further emphasizes that compliance and security are often conflated, with many organizations spending excessive time on manual compliance tasks rather than proactive security measures. The Vanta report and related commentary stress the importance of automation, innovation, and demonstrable security practices to build customer trust. As AI continues to reshape the threat landscape, organizations are urged to modernize their security operations and invest in both technology and expertise to keep pace with evolving risks.
Track how attackers are adapting to this technology.
2 events from the most recent confirmed update back to the earliest known activity.
A follow-on industry analysis discussed the intersection of AI and trust, reinforcing the report's themes around AI-related risk, governance, and organizational readiness. This represented broader interpretation of the report rather than a separate incident.
Vanta released its State of Trust 2025 report highlighting that AI-driven threats are advancing faster than organizations' available security expertise. The report framed AI risk and trust as a growing governance and security challenge.
Follow how adversaries are adapting to this technology, and where it touches your stack today.
2 references tracked. Mallory keeps watching after this page renders.
Map indicators from this story to your assets and identify affected systems in minutes.
Every observed campaign, victim, and pivot linked to actors named in this story.
Malware, exploits, and IOCs connected to the activity described here.
YARA, Sigma, and Snort rules deployed to your SIEM as soon as they’re published.
Get matching new stories delivered to your team as they break — not the next morning.
Ask questions about this story and take action on the answers.
Other stories Mallory is tracking that overlap on entities, sources, or topic labels.
Cyber risk remains the foremost concern for organizations globally, as highlighted by the latest Aon Global Risk Management Survey, which reports a 22% increase in cyber incidents in 2025. The rapid adoption of generative AI, automation, and digital platforms is driving both operational efficiency and new vulnerabilities, expanding the attack surface across enterprises. AI is not only accelerating digital transformation but also introducing novel risks, with AI-related threats projected to rise dramatically in risk rankings by 2028. The 2025 Elastic Global Threat Report corroborates this trend, revealing that adversaries are increasingly leveraging AI to lower the barrier to entry for cybercrime. Large language models (LLMs) are being used to generate malicious loaders and tools, contributing to a surge in generic threats. The report also notes a significant shift in adversary tactics on Windows, with Execution now surpassing Defense Evasion as the top tactic. In the cloud, over 60% of security events are linked to Initial Access, Persistence, and Credential Access, indicating a concentrated attack focus. The industrialization of browser credential theft is fueling the access broker economy, with more than one in eight malware samples designed to steal browser data. This stolen data is then used to compromise corporate cloud accounts, amplifying the risk to organizations. Both reports emphasize that cyber threats now permeate every aspect of business, from supply chains to brand reputation, and are no longer confined to IT departments. However, AI also presents opportunities for defenders, enabling faster threat detection, attack simulation, and improved incident response. Organizations with mature cybersecurity practices and a culture of security awareness are leveraging AI to turn trust into a competitive advantage. Quantifying cyber risk and investing in AI-powered defenses are recommended strategies to stay ahead of evolving threats. The evolving threat landscape demands proactive measures, as adversaries continue to innovate with AI-driven techniques. Geopolitical volatility and AI-related risks are expected to climb the risk rankings, further complicating the security environment. Enterprises are urged to adapt by integrating AI into their security operations and fostering resilience across all business functions. The convergence of AI-driven threats and defenses marks a pivotal shift in cybersecurity, requiring continuous vigilance and innovation.
Jul 12, 2026
The 2025–2026 cybersecurity landscape is being fundamentally reshaped by the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into security strategies and the emergence of new threat vectors. According to the PwC 2026 Global Digital Trust Insights Survey, a significant proportion of organizations are prioritizing AI in their cybersecurity budgets, with 36% of business and technology executives ranking AI among their top three investment areas. This focus on AI surpasses traditional priorities such as cloud security, network security, zero trust, data protection, and threat management. Security leaders are particularly interested in AI's threat hunting capabilities, with 48% identifying this as their primary use case, while other applications include vulnerability scanning, event detection, identity management, and behavioral analytics. Despite this enthusiasm, only 6% of organizations feel fully capable of defending against cyberattacks, highlighting a gap between ambition and readiness. Budget constraints and a lack of AI expertise are cited as major barriers to broader adoption, even as 78% of organizations expect their cybersecurity budgets to grow in the coming year. Quantum computing is also emerging as a concern, with most organizations feeling unprepared for its potential impact on security. The 2025 Cybersecurity Pulse Report, synthesized from executive interviews, technical research, and practitioner insights, underscores a strategic shift from incremental defense improvements to comprehensive redesigns in response to agentic AI, systemic risk, and multivector adversaries. The report identifies five core themes defining the current security agenda: the centrality of AI (including agentic models and offensive AI), the expansion of threats from hardware to cloud (such as firmware persistence and IAM sprawl), the proliferation of multivector threats (including deepfakes, ghost calls, and SOC fatigue), evolving governance and policy challenges (such as AI liability and systemic risk), and innovation in defense (with gaming-inspired architectures and hardware resilience). These themes reflect a growing recognition that traditional security models are insufficient in the face of rapidly evolving threats and technological advancements. Organizations are encouraged to benchmark their security roadmaps against these global priorities, understanding how agentic AI and systemic cyber risk are reshaping strategies. The reports collectively highlight the need for new approaches to resilience, innovation, and competitive advantage in cybersecurity. The integration of AI is not only changing how threats are detected and managed but also driving debates around governance, liability, and regulatory compliance. As adversaries leverage AI for more sophisticated attacks, defenders are compelled to adopt equally advanced technologies and rethink their operational models. The convergence of AI, cloud, and hardware security challenges is creating a complex environment that demands continuous adaptation and investment. Despite increased budgets, the persistent lack of expertise and preparedness for emerging technologies like quantum computing remains a significant concern. The reports suggest that organizations must invest not only in technology but also in talent development and strategic planning to address these gaps. The evolving threat landscape, characterized by multivector attacks and human exploitation tactics, is placing additional stress on security teams and necessitating more robust, AI-driven solutions. Ultimately, the shift toward AI-based security and strategic intelligence is redefining the priorities and practices of cybersecurity leaders worldwide, setting the stage for a new era of digital trust and resilience.
Jun 29, 2026
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming both the threat landscape and defensive strategies in cybersecurity, prompting CISOs and security leaders to rethink their approaches. A global study by Gigamon found that 86% of CISOs now view metadata and packet-level data as essential for detecting threats in complex hybrid cloud environments, but 97% admit to making trade-offs that leave visibility gaps. The rise of AI-driven attacks is fueling demand for real-time visibility and observability tools, with 75% of CISOs regarding public cloud as their highest security risk and 73% considering moving workloads back to private clouds. Security teams are investing heavily in AI-specific security tools, with 73% of companies spending over $1 million annually, yet 70% cite the rapid pace of AI development as their top concern. Recent high-profile breaches, such as those at LexisNexis Risk Solutions and McLaren Health Care, illustrate the increasing scale and sophistication of attacks, often amplified by AI. AI is accelerating the reconnaissance phase of attacks, enabling adversaries to map environments and identify vulnerabilities with unprecedented speed and precision, though human direction remains necessary for effective exploitation. The proliferation of AI-generated code, including through practices like 'vibe coding,' introduces new risks as less experienced developers may overlook security fundamentals, leading to insecure applications. Agentic AI systems, which act autonomously or on behalf of users, present urgent challenges in authentication, authorization, and identity management, with experts calling for scalable frameworks and robust credentials to prevent security lapses. CISOs are urged to build security into the design phase of software development, leveraging platform-native controls and enforcing policies like Row Level Security to minimize risk. The integration of AI into security operations is seen as both an opportunity and a challenge, requiring adaptive access solutions, post-quantum cryptography, and continuous monitoring. As AI reshapes digital transformation, organizations must balance the benefits of rapid innovation with the imperative to secure their environments against increasingly sophisticated, AI-powered threats. The consensus among experts is that security must evolve in tandem with AI capabilities, emphasizing proactive risk management, cryptographic agility, and a culture of security awareness across all levels of the organization.
Jun 29, 2026