{"id":13827,"date":"2026-09-30T12:25:48","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T09:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/?p=13827"},"modified":"2026-09-30T12:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T09:32:07","slug":"ai-security-why-its-now-a-board-level-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/resources-hub\/blog\/ai-security-why-its-now-a-board-level-priority\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Security: Why It&#8217;s Now a Board-Level Priority"},"content":{"rendered":"<section\n    class=\"wp-block-one-column-block edwp-block js-wp-block-one-column-block wp-block-one-column-block--content-1 wp-block-one-column-block--meta-sharing layout--spacing-xxxxl-top layout--spacing-xl-bottom\"\n    >\n    <div class=\"wp-block-one-column-block__container\">\n                                                                                                                            <div class='wp-block-one-column-block__meta-sharing-grid'><div class=\"wp-component-content wp-component-content--default wp-block-one-column-block__content fade-in\">\n            <h1 class=\"wp-component-heading text--h2 wp-component-content__title\">\n    AI Security: Why It&#8217;s Now a Board-Level Priority <span class=\"blue-text\"> (And What To Do About It)<\/span><\/h1>                    <div class=\"wp-component-content__inner\">\n                                                    <div class=\"wp-component-content__meta\">\n                                                    <span class=\"wp-component-content__content-type\">\n                                Blog                            <\/span>\n                                                                            <span class=\"wp-component-content__meta-categories\">\n                                                                    <span class=\"wp-component-content__meta-category\">\n                                        AI                                    <\/span>\n                                                                    <span class=\"wp-component-content__meta-category\">\n                                        AI Security                                    <\/span>\n                                                            <\/span>\n                                                                                                    <span class=\"wp-component-content__meta-date\">\n                                30 September, 2026                            <\/span>\n                                                                    <\/div>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div><section\n    class=\"wp-block-sharing-icons edwp-block wp-block-sharing-icons--disable-border wp-block-sharing-icons--content-1 wp-block-sharing-icons--disable-container wp-block-one-column-block__sharing fade-in wp-block-one-column-block__sharing fade-in\"\n    >\n    <div class=\"wp-block-sharing-icons__container\">\n 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aria-hidden='true'>\n                <use xlink:href='#linkedin'><\/use>\n            <\/svg>        <\/a>\n    \n            <a href=\"http:\/\/x.com\/share?text=AI Security: Why It&#8217;s Now a Board-Level Priority&#038;url=https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/resources-hub\/blog\/ai-security-why-its-now-a-board-level-priority\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferer noopener\" class=\"wp-component-socials__link wp-component-socials__link--twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\">\n            <svg class='edwp-icon edwp-icon--xlg js-icon ' aria-hidden='true'>\n                <use xlink:href='#x'><\/use>\n            <\/svg>        <\/a>\n    \n    \n    <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n                <\/div>\n                                                <div class=\"wp-block-two-column-block__right\">\n                                <div class=\"wp-component-paragraph wp-block-two-column-block__paragraph  wp-block-two-column-block__hide-mobile\">\n    <p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\">AI <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\">S<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\">ecurity means protecting three things at once: the AI systems your <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">organi<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">s<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">ation<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\"> uses, the infrastructure that runs them, and your business from AI-powered attacks. Most cybersecurity teams <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\">aren&#8217;t<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\"> involved early enough in AI decisions to do this well, and the gap is widening as AI agents spread faster than governance can keep up. The fix starts with visibility: know what AI is running in your <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">organi<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">s<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">ation<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\"> before you try to secure it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"blue-text\">\u2713<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">By 2028, Gartner expects generative AI to be a factor in 22% of all cyberattacks and data leaks.<\/span>[1]<\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"blue-text\">\u2713<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Only 30% of cybersecurity leaders at midsize enterprises consider their teams effective at securing generative AI tools.<\/span>[1]<\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"blue-text\">\u2713<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Non-human identities (including AI agents) now outnumber human ones by roughly 17 to 1 in the enterprise, and a third sit dormant and ungoverned.<\/span>[3]<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:215,&quot;335559739&quot;:100,&quot;335559740&quot;:320}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"blue-text\">\u2713<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Five foundational steps (discovery, identity management, information governance, oversight, continuous assurance) cover most of what AI security requires today.<\/span>[3]<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"TextRun SCXW17036346 BCX8\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW17036346 BCX8\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"heading 1\">Introduction<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP Selected SCXW17036346 BCX8\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:400,&quot;335559739&quot;:160}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">AI rolled into the businesses faster than almost any technology before it. Employees started using ChatGPT before IT had a policy for it. Vendors bolted Copilot-style assistants onto every product. Now agentic AI is showing up in code repositories, browsers, and SaaS platforms, often without anyone in security having approved it, or even knowing it&#8217;s there.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:340}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">That speed is the whole problem. Security teams are being asked to protect something they didn&#8217;t get to help design, using budgets and headcount that haven&#8217;t caught up. This article walks through what&#8217;s actually causing the pressure, what AI security means in practice, and the concrete next steps that get an organisation from \u2018exposed\u2019 to \u2018in control\u2019.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:340}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The AI security pain points every organisation is feeling right now<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Security teams are the last to know<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Across midsize enterprises, only 41% of cybersecurity teams are involved in the planning phase of a generative AI rollout, and even fewer, 38%, are involved once development starts, according to Gartner&#8217;s 2024 Data Security in the Age of AI Advancements Survey. Two-thirds don&#8217;t have the final say on decisions as important as incident response plans or kill-switch policies. Business teams move first, and security finds out after the tool is already in production.[1]<\/p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t a training problem. It&#8217;s a sequencing problem. When security is looped in only after a tool has been selected, teams are left reacting to decisions rather than shaping them.<\/p>\n<h2>Shadow AI is the default, not the exception<\/h2>\n<p>Employees adopt AI tools whether or not IT approves of it. Gartner has found that 89% of business technologists would bypass cybersecurity guidance entirely if it stood between them and a business objective.[2] Nearly half of midsize enterprises are effectively letting employees use their own judgement on data risk when working with generative AI, rather than building safe environments for experimentation.[1]<\/p>\n<p>The result is an AI attack surface that keeps expanding in the dark: unsanctioned SaaS tools, browser-based AI extensions, and coworking agents that no one has inventoried.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AI agents multiply faster than identity management can track them<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Agentic AI has turned a governance problem into an identity problem. Non-human identities, including service accounts and AI agents, now outnumber human identities by roughly 17 to 1 in the average enterprise, and a third of them are dormant and effectively ungoverned. Gartner&#8217;s 2025 research found that while half of IT leaders believe they have sufficient governance in place, 84% privately admit they need stronger technical controls to actually secure their AI agents. Most organisations already suspect, or have direct evidence of, unsanctioned AI agent activity somewhere in their environment.[3]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Boards are demanding AI adoption faster than budgets and talent can support<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Forrester&#8217;s research on boardroom AI narratives puts this plainly: executive enthusiasm for AI is expanding the CISO&#8217;s mandate faster than most organisations can realistically resource it.[4] Boards want the productivity story. They&#8217;re less interested in the fact that, per Carnegie Mellon&#8217;s The Agent Company benchmark, even the most capable AI agents fail to complete the majority of simulated office tasks without help. The economics point toward more automation regardless, so CISOs who show up only with failure data lose the argument. What works instead is tying AI security investment directly to revenue protection, regulatory exposure, and customer trust, the three things boards already care about.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The costs are shifting, and the talent pipeline is thinning<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Agentic workflows consume dramatically more compute than a simple chat interaction, and licensing models are changing mid-contract as vendors move from flat fees to consumption-based pricing. At the same time, early-career hiring into cybersecurity roles is contracting as AI absorbs entry-level tasks, which quietly erodes the pipeline of practitioners who&#8217;ll be needed to govern these systems in five years.[4]<\/p>\n<h2>What is AI security, exactly?<\/h2>\n<p>AI security covers three distinct jobs, and most conversations only mean one of them:<\/p>\n<p>Using AI to strengthen security. Chat-style assistants for security operations centers, automated alert triage, and faster threat summarisation. This is \u201cdefending with AI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Securing how the organisation builds and uses AI. Every AI tool, agent, browser plugin, service identity, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) connection an organisation touches adds to what&#8217;s often called the AI attack surface. Securing it means applying the same rigor to AI assets that&#8217;s already standard for endpoints, identities, and cloud infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Defending against AI-powered attacks. Attackers use generative AI the same way defenders do: to move faster, write more convincing phishing lures, and scale attacks that used to require more manual effort.<\/p>\n<p>Gartner frames this as four impact areas CISOs need a plan for: defending with generative AI, being attacked by it, securing what the organisation builds with it, and governing how the organisation consumes it. Put together, this is the AI Trust, Risk and Security Management (AI TRiSM) framework, and it&#8217;s quickly becoming a baseline expectation rather than a nice-to-have.[2]<\/p>\n<p>The risks that matter most right now include prompt injection (malicious instructions hidden in content that hijacks an AI agent&#8217;s behaviour), excessive agent permissions that let a tool take actions it was never meant to take, non-human identity abuse, compromised AI supply chains (a poisoned MCP server or plugin), and plain old shadow AI: tools nobody signed off on, running with nobody watching.<\/p>\n<p>Gartner&#8217;s guidance on AI agent assurance breaks the response into five steps: discover every agent in the environment, treat agents as first-class identities within identity and access management, apply information governance to everything agents touch, add automated oversight (\u201cguardian agents\u201d) for continuous monitoring, and build feedback loops that let the whole system improve over time. It&#8217;s a sequence, not a checklist. Discovery has to come first, because it&#8217;s impossible to govern what hasn&#8217;t been found.[3]<\/p>\n<h2>Next steps: building an AI security program that keeps pace<\/h2>\n<p><strong>1. Start with visibility, not policy.<\/strong> Before writing an acceptable-use policy, find out what&#8217;s actually running: AI-integrated SaaS applications, browser extensions, installed agents, and the service identities tied to them. An inventory is the prerequisite for everything else on this list.[3]<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.<\/strong> <strong>Bring security in at the start, not the end<\/strong>. Embed a lightweight security checkpoint into the AI adoption process itself, and create a pre-approved list of vetted AI tools so business teams can move quickly without bypassing security altogether. Where internal capacity is tight, shifting continuous monitoring to a managed detection and response partner frees the in-house team to focus on incident response, where their business context matters most.[1]<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Treat AI agents as identities, not background processes<\/strong>. Every agent needs a unique, auditable identity, least-privilege access, and just-in-time permissions rather than standing access. Build in a process for retiring agents that are abandoned mid-experiment, which happens more often than most inventories admit.[3]<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Extend data governance to everything an agent touches.<\/strong> Agents access, generate, and move data at a scale and speed manual reviews can&#8217;t match. Comprehensive, AI-aware data classification and monitoring needs to cover both structured and unstructured data, in transit and at rest, with acceptable-use violations escalated automatically rather than caught after the fact.[3]<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Make the case to the board in terms it already uses.<\/strong> Link AI security spend to revenue protection, regulatory exposure, and customer trust rather than treating it as a standalone security line item. Distribute the cost across the functions actually deploying AI, since risk now originates well outside the security team, in marketing, product, and operations alike. Treat token and compute consumption the way FinOps treats cloud spend: with budgets, anomaly detection, and accountability per business unit.[4]<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. Build the talent pipeline deliberately.<\/strong> Reskilling internal staff into AI-oversight roles, rather than relying solely on hiring, is proving to be a real competitive advantage as the market for AI-fluent security talent tightens.[4]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-tablestyle=\"MsoNormalTable\" data-tablelook=\"0\" aria-rowcount=\"5\" aria-colcount=\"3\">\n<tbody>\n<tr aria-rowindex=\"1\">\n<td class=\"blue-text\" data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Challenge<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td class=\"blue-text\" data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What&#8217;s actually happening<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td class=\"blue-text\" data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">The practical fix<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr aria-rowindex=\"2\">\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">No visibility into AI use<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Shadow AI tools and agents run unmonitored across SaaS, browsers, and endpoints<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Continuous, automated discovery covering installables, browser plugins, SaaS, and service identities<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr aria-rowindex=\"3\">\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Security involved too late<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Business teams adopt AI tools before security reviews them<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Lightweight checkpoints early in the adoption process, plus a pre-approved tool list<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr aria-rowindex=\"4\">\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Ungoverned AI agents and identities<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Non-human identities outnumber human ones and a third are dormant<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Register every agent as a first-class identity with least-privilege, time-limited access<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr aria-rowindex=\"5\">\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Board pressure outpacing resourcing<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Executives push AI adoption faster than budget and talent allow<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Tie security investment to revenue, regulatory, and trust outcomes the board already tracks<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2 aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Frequently asked questions<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:400,&quot;335559739&quot;:160}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What is AI security?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:60}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">AI security is the practice of protecting the AI systems an organisation uses and builds, the infrastructure behind them, and the business from attacks that use AI. It spans AI agents, SaaS tools, browser plugins, and the identities tied to all of them.<\/span>[2]<\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Why is AI security a board-level issue now?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:60}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Because AI adoption is expanding faster than governance, budget, or talent can support it, and boards are pushing for it regardless. Gartner projects generative AI will factor into 22% of cyberattacks and data leaks by 2028, making this a business risk, not just a technical one.<\/span>[1,4]<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:60,&quot;335559740&quot;:320}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What&#8217;s the biggest AI security risk today?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:60}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Shadow AI and ungoverned agents. Most organisations already suspect unsanctioned AI activity exists somewhere in their environment, and non-human identities now vastly outnumber human ones, often without matching oversight.<\/span>[3]<\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Where should a company start with AI security?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:60}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">With discovery. Find out what AI tools, agents, and identities already exist before writing policy or buying tools. Visibility is the prerequisite for every other control.<\/span>[3]<\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">How is AI security different from traditional cybersecurity?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:60}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It adds new categories of risk, like prompt injection, agent identity abuse, and AI supply-chain compromise, that don&#8217;t map cleanly onto existing endpoint or network controls. It requires extending existing identity, data, and detection programs to cover AI-specific assets, rather than building something entirely separate.<\/span>[2]<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:60,&quot;335559740&quot;:320}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Where this leaves you\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">AI isn&#8217;t a category that will eventually go away and become \u201cjust security\u201d again, but it isn&#8217;t there yet either. Right now, the organisations managing it well are the ones treating visibility as step one and building identity, data, and oversight controls around what they find, rather than waiting for a perfect policy before they start.<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Sources\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">[1] <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Gartner, 3 Generative AI Security Red Flags for Midsize Enterprise CIOs, Patrick Long, Srishti Khanna, 2 May 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">[2] <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Gartner, 4 Ways Generative AI Will Impact CISOs and Their Teams, \u202fJeremy D&#8217;Hoinne,\u202f Avivah Litan , Peter Firstbrook, 29 June 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">[3] <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Gartner, <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Act Now: Take These 5 Steps for AI Agent Assurance, Avivah Litan, Max Goss, Carlton Sapp, 21 January 2026<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:360,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:300,&quot;335559991&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">[4] <\/span><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forrester.com\/report\/resetting-securitys-ai-narrative-with-boards-and-executives\/RES201216\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Forrester, Resetting Security\u2019s AI Narrative With Boards And Executives, September 2026<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:360,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:300,&quot;335559991&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<section\n    class=\"wp-block-sharing-icons edwp-block wp-block-sharing-icons--disable-border wp-block-sharing-icons--disable-container wp-block-two-column-block__share wp-block-two-column-block__mobile-after-right wp-block-two-column-block__share wp-block-two-column-block__mobile-after-right\"\n    >\n    <div class=\"wp-block-sharing-icons__container\">\n        <div class=\"wp-block-sharing-icons__inner\">\n                            <p class=\"wp-block-sharing-icons__title fade-in\">\n                    Share this story                <\/p>\n                        <div class=\"wp-component-socials wp-component-socials--dark-mode\">\n    \n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&#038;url=https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/resources-hub\/blog\/ai-security-why-its-now-a-board-level-priority\/&#038;title=AI%20Security:%20Why%20It&#8217;s%20Now%20a%20Board-Level%20Priority\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferer noopener\" class=\"wp-component-socials__link\" title=\"Share on Linkedin\">\n            <svg class='edwp-icon edwp-icon--xlg js-icon ' aria-hidden='true'>\n                <use xlink:href='#linkedin'><\/use>\n            <\/svg>        <\/a>\n    \n            <a href=\"http:\/\/x.com\/share?text=AI Security: Why It&#8217;s Now a Board-Level Priority&#038;url=https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/resources-hub\/blog\/ai-security-why-its-now-a-board-level-priority\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferer noopener\" class=\"wp-component-socials__link wp-component-socials__link--twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\">\n            <svg class='edwp-icon edwp-icon--xlg js-icon ' aria-hidden='true'>\n                <use xlink:href='#x'><\/use>\n            <\/svg>        <\/a>\n    \n    \n    <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"wp-component-paragraph wp-block-two-column-block__paragraph  wp-block-two-column-block__mobile-after-right\">\n    <p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\">AI <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\">S<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\">ecurity means protecting three things at once: the AI systems your <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">organi<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">s<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">ation<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\"> uses, the infrastructure that runs them, and your business from AI-powered attacks. Most cybersecurity teams <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\">aren&#8217;t<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\"> involved early enough in AI decisions to do this well, and the gap is widening as AI agents spread faster than governance can keep up. The fix starts with visibility: know what AI is running in your <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">organi<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">s<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW132150857 BCX8\">ation<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW132150857 BCX8\"> before you try to secure it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"blue-text\">\u2713<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">By 2028, Gartner expects generative AI to be a factor in 22% of all cyberattacks and data leaks.<\/span>[1]<\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"blue-text\">\u2713<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Only 30% of cybersecurity leaders at midsize enterprises consider their teams effective at securing generative AI tools.<\/span>[1]<\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"blue-text\">\u2713<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Non-human identities (including AI agents) now outnumber human ones by roughly 17 to 1 in the enterprise, and a third sit dormant and ungoverned.<\/span>[3]<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:215,&quot;335559739&quot;:100,&quot;335559740&quot;:320}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"blue-text\">\u2713<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Five foundational steps (discovery, identity management, information governance, oversight, continuous assurance) cover most of what AI security requires today.<\/span>[3]<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"TextRun SCXW17036346 BCX8\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW17036346 BCX8\" data-ccp-parastyle=\"heading 1\">Introduction<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP Selected SCXW17036346 BCX8\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:400,&quot;335559739&quot;:160}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">AI rolled into the businesses faster than almost any technology before it. Employees started using ChatGPT before IT had a policy for it. Vendors bolted Copilot-style assistants onto every product. Now agentic AI is showing up in code repositories, browsers, and SaaS platforms, often without anyone in security having approved it, or even knowing it&#8217;s there.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:340}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">That speed is the whole problem. Security teams are being asked to protect something they didn&#8217;t get to help design, using budgets and headcount that haven&#8217;t caught up. This article walks through what&#8217;s actually causing the pressure, what AI security means in practice, and the concrete next steps that get an organisation from \u2018exposed\u2019 to \u2018in control\u2019.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:340}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The AI security pain points every organisation is feeling right now<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Security teams are the last to know<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Across midsize enterprises, only 41% of cybersecurity teams are involved in the planning phase of a generative AI rollout, and even fewer, 38%, are involved once development starts, according to Gartner&#8217;s 2024 Data Security in the Age of AI Advancements Survey. Two-thirds don&#8217;t have the final say on decisions as important as incident response plans or kill-switch policies. Business teams move first, and security finds out after the tool is already in production.[1]<\/p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t a training problem. It&#8217;s a sequencing problem. When security is looped in only after a tool has been selected, teams are left reacting to decisions rather than shaping them.<\/p>\n<h2>Shadow AI is the default, not the exception<\/h2>\n<p>Employees adopt AI tools whether or not IT approves of it. Gartner has found that 89% of business technologists would bypass cybersecurity guidance entirely if it stood between them and a business objective.[2] Nearly half of midsize enterprises are effectively letting employees use their own judgement on data risk when working with generative AI, rather than building safe environments for experimentation.[1]<\/p>\n<p>The result is an AI attack surface that keeps expanding in the dark: unsanctioned SaaS tools, browser-based AI extensions, and coworking agents that no one has inventoried.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AI agents multiply faster than identity management can track them<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Agentic AI has turned a governance problem into an identity problem. Non-human identities, including service accounts and AI agents, now outnumber human identities by roughly 17 to 1 in the average enterprise, and a third of them are dormant and effectively ungoverned. Gartner&#8217;s 2025 research found that while half of IT leaders believe they have sufficient governance in place, 84% privately admit they need stronger technical controls to actually secure their AI agents. Most organisations already suspect, or have direct evidence of, unsanctioned AI agent activity somewhere in their environment.[3]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Boards are demanding AI adoption faster than budgets and talent can support<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Forrester&#8217;s research on boardroom AI narratives puts this plainly: executive enthusiasm for AI is expanding the CISO&#8217;s mandate faster than most organisations can realistically resource it.[4] Boards want the productivity story. They&#8217;re less interested in the fact that, per Carnegie Mellon&#8217;s The Agent Company benchmark, even the most capable AI agents fail to complete the majority of simulated office tasks without help. The economics point toward more automation regardless, so CISOs who show up only with failure data lose the argument. What works instead is tying AI security investment directly to revenue protection, regulatory exposure, and customer trust, the three things boards already care about.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The costs are shifting, and the talent pipeline is thinning<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Agentic workflows consume dramatically more compute than a simple chat interaction, and licensing models are changing mid-contract as vendors move from flat fees to consumption-based pricing. At the same time, early-career hiring into cybersecurity roles is contracting as AI absorbs entry-level tasks, which quietly erodes the pipeline of practitioners who&#8217;ll be needed to govern these systems in five years.[4]<\/p>\n<h2>What is AI security, exactly?<\/h2>\n<p>AI security covers three distinct jobs, and most conversations only mean one of them:<\/p>\n<p>Using AI to strengthen security. Chat-style assistants for security operations centers, automated alert triage, and faster threat summarisation. This is \u201cdefending with AI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Securing how the organisation builds and uses AI. Every AI tool, agent, browser plugin, service identity, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) connection an organisation touches adds to what&#8217;s often called the AI attack surface. Securing it means applying the same rigor to AI assets that&#8217;s already standard for endpoints, identities, and cloud infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Defending against AI-powered attacks. Attackers use generative AI the same way defenders do: to move faster, write more convincing phishing lures, and scale attacks that used to require more manual effort.<\/p>\n<p>Gartner frames this as four impact areas CISOs need a plan for: defending with generative AI, being attacked by it, securing what the organisation builds with it, and governing how the organisation consumes it. Put together, this is the AI Trust, Risk and Security Management (AI TRiSM) framework, and it&#8217;s quickly becoming a baseline expectation rather than a nice-to-have.[2]<\/p>\n<p>The risks that matter most right now include prompt injection (malicious instructions hidden in content that hijacks an AI agent&#8217;s behaviour), excessive agent permissions that let a tool take actions it was never meant to take, non-human identity abuse, compromised AI supply chains (a poisoned MCP server or plugin), and plain old shadow AI: tools nobody signed off on, running with nobody watching.<\/p>\n<p>Gartner&#8217;s guidance on AI agent assurance breaks the response into five steps: discover every agent in the environment, treat agents as first-class identities within identity and access management, apply information governance to everything agents touch, add automated oversight (\u201cguardian agents\u201d) for continuous monitoring, and build feedback loops that let the whole system improve over time. It&#8217;s a sequence, not a checklist. Discovery has to come first, because it&#8217;s impossible to govern what hasn&#8217;t been found.[3]<\/p>\n<h2>Next steps: building an AI security program that keeps pace<\/h2>\n<p><strong>1. Start with visibility, not policy.<\/strong> Before writing an acceptable-use policy, find out what&#8217;s actually running: AI-integrated SaaS applications, browser extensions, installed agents, and the service identities tied to them. An inventory is the prerequisite for everything else on this list.[3]<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.<\/strong> <strong>Bring security in at the start, not the end<\/strong>. Embed a lightweight security checkpoint into the AI adoption process itself, and create a pre-approved list of vetted AI tools so business teams can move quickly without bypassing security altogether. Where internal capacity is tight, shifting continuous monitoring to a managed detection and response partner frees the in-house team to focus on incident response, where their business context matters most.[1]<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Treat AI agents as identities, not background processes<\/strong>. Every agent needs a unique, auditable identity, least-privilege access, and just-in-time permissions rather than standing access. Build in a process for retiring agents that are abandoned mid-experiment, which happens more often than most inventories admit.[3]<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Extend data governance to everything an agent touches.<\/strong> Agents access, generate, and move data at a scale and speed manual reviews can&#8217;t match. Comprehensive, AI-aware data classification and monitoring needs to cover both structured and unstructured data, in transit and at rest, with acceptable-use violations escalated automatically rather than caught after the fact.[3]<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Make the case to the board in terms it already uses.<\/strong> Link AI security spend to revenue protection, regulatory exposure, and customer trust rather than treating it as a standalone security line item. Distribute the cost across the functions actually deploying AI, since risk now originates well outside the security team, in marketing, product, and operations alike. Treat token and compute consumption the way FinOps treats cloud spend: with budgets, anomaly detection, and accountability per business unit.[4]<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. Build the talent pipeline deliberately.<\/strong> Reskilling internal staff into AI-oversight roles, rather than relying solely on hiring, is proving to be a real competitive advantage as the market for AI-fluent security talent tightens.[4]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-tablestyle=\"MsoNormalTable\" data-tablelook=\"0\" aria-rowcount=\"5\" aria-colcount=\"3\">\n<tbody>\n<tr aria-rowindex=\"1\">\n<td class=\"blue-text\" data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Challenge<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td class=\"blue-text\" data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What&#8217;s actually happening<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td class=\"blue-text\" data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">The practical fix<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr aria-rowindex=\"2\">\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">No visibility into AI use<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Shadow AI tools and agents run unmonitored across SaaS, browsers, and endpoints<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Continuous, automated discovery covering installables, browser plugins, SaaS, and service identities<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr aria-rowindex=\"3\">\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Security involved too late<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Business teams adopt AI tools before security reviews them<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Lightweight checkpoints early in the adoption process, plus a pre-approved tool list<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr aria-rowindex=\"4\">\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Ungoverned AI agents and identities<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Non-human identities outnumber human ones and a third are dormant<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Register every agent as a first-class identity with least-privilege, time-limited access<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr aria-rowindex=\"5\">\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Board pressure outpacing resourcing<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Executives push AI adoption faster than budget and talent allow<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td data-celllook=\"69905\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Tie security investment to revenue, regulatory, and trust outcomes the board already tracks<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2 aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Frequently asked questions<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:400,&quot;335559739&quot;:160}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What is AI security?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:60}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">AI security is the practice of protecting the AI systems an organisation uses and builds, the infrastructure behind them, and the business from attacks that use AI. It spans AI agents, SaaS tools, browser plugins, and the identities tied to all of them.<\/span>[2]<\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Why is AI security a board-level issue now?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:60}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Because AI adoption is expanding faster than governance, budget, or talent can support it, and boards are pushing for it regardless. Gartner projects generative AI will factor into 22% of cyberattacks and data leaks by 2028, making this a business risk, not just a technical one.<\/span>[1,4]<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:60,&quot;335559740&quot;:320}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What&#8217;s the biggest AI security risk today?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:60}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Shadow AI and ungoverned agents. Most organisations already suspect unsanctioned AI activity exists somewhere in their environment, and non-human identities now vastly outnumber human ones, often without matching oversight.<\/span>[3]<\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Where should a company start with AI security?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:60}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">With discovery. Find out what AI tools, agents, and identities already exist before writing policy or buying tools. Visibility is the prerequisite for every other control.<\/span>[3]<\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">How is AI security different from traditional cybersecurity?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:60}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It adds new categories of risk, like prompt injection, agent identity abuse, and AI supply-chain compromise, that don&#8217;t map cleanly onto existing endpoint or network controls. It requires extending existing identity, data, and detection programs to cover AI-specific assets, rather than building something entirely separate.<\/span>[2]<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:60,&quot;335559740&quot;:320}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Where this leaves you\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">AI isn&#8217;t a category that will eventually go away and become \u201cjust security\u201d again, but it isn&#8217;t there yet either. Right now, the organisations managing it well are the ones treating visibility as step one and building identity, data, and oversight controls around what they find, rather than waiting for a perfect policy before they start.<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Sources\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">[1] <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Gartner, 3 Generative AI Security Red Flags for Midsize Enterprise CIOs, Patrick Long, Srishti Khanna, 2 May 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">[2] <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Gartner, 4 Ways Generative AI Will Impact CISOs and Their Teams, \u202fJeremy D&#8217;Hoinne,\u202f Avivah Litan , Peter Firstbrook, 29 June 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">[3] <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Gartner, <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Act Now: Take These 5 Steps for AI Agent Assurance, Avivah Litan, Max Goss, Carlton Sapp, 21 January 2026<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:360,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:300,&quot;335559991&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">[4] <\/span><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forrester.com\/report\/resetting-securitys-ai-narrative-with-boards-and-executives\/RES201216\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Forrester, Resetting Security\u2019s AI Narrative With Boards And Executives, September 2026<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:360,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:300,&quot;335559991&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                        <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<section\n    class=\"wp-block-cards edwp-block wp-block-cards--col-3 layout--spacing-xxxl-top layout--spacing-xxxl-bottom\"\n    >\n    <div class=\"wp-block-cards__container\">\n        <div class=\"wp-component-content wp-component-content--default wp-block-cards__content\">\n            <h2 class=\"wp-component-heading text--h2 wp-component-content__title\">\n    Blog <span class=\"blue-text\">post<\/span><\/h2>                    <div class=\"wp-component-content__inner\">\n                                    <div class=\"wp-component-content__content wysiwyg\">\n                        <div class=\"wp-component-paragraph \">\n    <p>Read our latest blogs<\/p>\n<\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n                                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>                                            <div class=\"wp-block-cards__cards row-load\">\n                    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight wp-block-cards__card wp-component-card-insight--highlighted\">\n    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__image-wrapper\">\n        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1.jpg.webp\" class=\"wp-component-card-insight__image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1.jpg.webp 1920w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-300x169.jpg.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-1024x576.jpg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-768x432.jpg.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-1536x864.jpg.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-447x251.jpg.webp 447w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-700x394.jpg.webp 700w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-260x146.jpg.webp 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/>                    <p class=\"wp-component-card-insight__content-type\">Blog<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__content\">\n                    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__meta\">\n                <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__categories\">\n                                            <span class=\"wp-component-card-insight__category\">AI<\/span>\n                                            <span class=\"wp-component-card-insight__category\">AI Security<\/span>\n                                    <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                            <h3 class=\"wp-component-card-insight__title\">AI Security: Why It&#8217;s Now a Board-Level Priority<\/h3>\n                                            <p class=\"wp-component-card-insight__desc\">AI security is now a board-level issue. See the real pain points, what AI security actually means, and the steps to get ahead of it.<\/p>\n                            <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__button-wrapper\">\n                <a class=\"wp-component-button btn btn--primary btn--dark wp-component-card-insight__button btn--small\" href=\"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/resources-hub\/blog\/ai-security-why-its-now-a-board-level-priority\/\">Read more<\/a>            <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"wp-component-card-insight wp-block-cards__card\">\n    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__image-wrapper\">\n        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"163\" height=\"130\" src=\"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AV-comparatives.svg\" class=\"wp-component-card-insight__image\" alt=\"\" \/>                    <p class=\"wp-component-card-insight__content-type\">Industry Recognition<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__content\">\n                    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__meta\">\n                <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__categories\">\n                                            <span class=\"wp-component-card-insight__category\">Endpoint Security<\/span>\n                                    <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                            <h3 class=\"wp-component-card-insight__title\">Certified Leader in AV-Comparatives&#8217; Endpoint Prevention and Response<\/h3>\n                                            <p class=\"wp-component-card-insight__desc\">AV-Comparatives named WithSecure \u2018Certified Leader\u2019 for Endpoint Prevention and Response (EPR), \u2018Advanced+ Performance\u2019 for Windows, \u2018Advanced Real-World Protection\u2019 for Windows, \u2018Approved Mac Security\u2019 for MacOS and \u2018Approved Mobile Security\u2019 for Android.<\/p>\n                            <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__button-wrapper\">\n                <a class=\"wp-component-button btn btn--primary wp-component-card-insight__button btn--small\" href=\"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/resources-hub\/blog\/strategic-leader-in-av-comparatives-endpoint-prevention-and-response\/\">Read more<\/a>            <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"wp-component-card-insight wp-block-cards__card\">\n    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__image-wrapper\">\n        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1280\" src=\"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/Elements_XM_Attack_Sufface-scaled.jpeg.webp\" class=\"wp-component-card-insight__image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/Elements_XM_Attack_Sufface-scaled.jpeg.webp 2560w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/Elements_XM_Attack_Sufface-300x150.jpeg.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/Elements_XM_Attack_Sufface-1024x512.jpeg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/Elements_XM_Attack_Sufface-768x384.jpeg.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/Elements_XM_Attack_Sufface-1536x768.jpeg.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/Elements_XM_Attack_Sufface-2048x1024.jpeg.webp 2048w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/Elements_XM_Attack_Sufface-447x224.jpeg.webp 447w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/09\/Elements_XM_Attack_Sufface-292x146.jpeg.webp 292w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/>                    <p class=\"wp-component-card-insight__content-type\">Blog<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__content\">\n                    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__meta\">\n                <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__categories\">\n                                            <span class=\"wp-component-card-insight__category\">AI Security<\/span>\n                                            <span class=\"wp-component-card-insight__category\">Exposure Management<\/span>\n                                            <span class=\"wp-component-card-insight__category\">Identity Security<\/span>\n                                            <span class=\"wp-component-card-insight__category\">Proactive Security<\/span>\n                                    <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                            <h3 class=\"wp-component-card-insight__title\">Exposure Management That Keeps MSPs Ahead of Attackers<\/h3>\n                                            <p class=\"wp-component-card-insight__desc\">One workflow from exposure to containment. WithSecure Elements gives MSPs near real-time exposure management with one-click response across every customer. <\/p>\n                            <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__button-wrapper\">\n                <a class=\"wp-component-button btn btn--primary wp-component-card-insight__button btn--small\" href=\"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/resources-hub\/blog\/exposure-management-msp-release-1\/\">Read more<\/a>            <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>                <\/div>\n                                                <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI security is now a board-level issue. See the real pain points, what AI security actually means, and the steps to get ahead of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":13826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[428,273],"tags":[],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-13827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-ai-security"],"acf":[],"card":"<div class=\"wp-component-card-insight js-card-link wp-component-card-insight--highlighted\">\n    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__image-wrapper\">\n        <img width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1.jpg\" class=\"wp-component-card-insight__image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-447x251.jpg 447w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WS_AI_Security_1920x1080_blog-1-260x146.jpg 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/>                    <p class=\"wp-component-card-insight__content-type\">Blog<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__content\">\n                    <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__meta\">\n                <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__categories\">\n                                            <span class=\"wp-component-card-insight__category\">AI<\/span>\n                                            <span class=\"wp-component-card-insight__category\">AI Security<\/span>\n                                    <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                            <h3 class=\"wp-component-card-insight__title\">AI Security: Why It&#8217;s Now a Board-Level Priority<\/h3>\n                                            <p class=\"wp-component-card-insight__desc\">AI security is now a board-level issue. See the real pain points, what AI security actually means, and the steps to get ahead of it.<\/p>\n                            <div class=\"wp-component-card-insight__button-wrapper\">\n                <a class=\"wp-component-button btn btn--primary btn--dark wp-component-card-insight__button btn--small\" href=\"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/resources-hub\/blog\/ai-security-why-its-now-a-board-level-priority\/\">Read more<\/a>            <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13827"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13850,"href":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13827\/revisions\/13850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13827"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=13827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}