- Thales 2026 Data Threat Report says 61% see AI as top data security risk
- Enterprises grant AI broad access, creating insider-like risks
- 48% report reputational damage from AI-driven misinformation
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deepfakes are proving to be a security nightmare for businesses everywhere, with new research claiming almost two-thirds (61%) of firms see AI as their top data security risk.
The Thales 2026 Data Threat Report noted that at the heart of this problem is the challenge of access control and management.
Enterprises are increasingly adding AI into workflows, analytics, customer service, and development pipelines. To make it work, they need to grant these tools broad, automated access, turning AI tools into a trusted insider. The issue is that the controls put in place for employees are almost always stricter than those for AI.
Threats from the inside and outside
Besides being a latent malicious insider, AI can also be a potent malicious outsider. Threat actors are quickly adopting the new tool and today more than half (almost 60% actually) of companies reported experiencing deepfake-driven attacks. In these attacks, crooks use AI-generated fake audio, video, or images, to convincingly impersonate a real person and thus manipulate their victims.
In a corporate setting, that could be using voice cloning to trick employees, creating AI-generated video to authorize payments, or fabricating public statements to manipulate stock price, or damage trust. In fact, Thales’ paper found 48% reporting reputational damage tied to AI-generated misinformation.
Today, some businesses are aware of AI threats, but the majority is not doing much about it. More than half (53%) still depend on traditional security programs built primarily for human users, while less than a third (30%) started dedicating specific budgets to AI security.
“Insider risk is no longer just about people. It is also about automated systems that have been trusted too quickly,” says Sebastien Cano, Senior Vice President, Cybersecurity Products at Thales. “When identity governance, access policies, or encryption are weak, AI can amplify those weaknesses across corporate environments far faster than any human ever could.”
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