Global organizations embrace AI to strengthen cyber defenses, yet fear its potential to expand attack surfaces and introduce vulnerabilities
Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity, has released new research highlighting a growing paradox in enterprise IT: while artificial intelligence (AI) is being rapidly adopted to enhance cyber defenses, organizations are increasingly concerned about the risks it may introduce.
The report, titled AI on the Frontline, reveals that 81% of global businesses are already using AI-powered tools as part of their cybersecurity strategy, with another 16% actively exploring implementation. Nearly all respondents (97%) expressed openness to using AI in some capacity, underscoring the technology’s widespread acceptance and perceived value.
AI is being leveraged for a range of critical cybersecurity functions, including automated asset discovery, anomaly detection, and risk prioritization. In fact, 42% of surveyed organizations identified AI and automation as top priorities for improving their cybersecurity posture over the next 12 months.
“AI holds enormous promise for strengthening cyber defenses… but attackers are just as eager to leverage AI for their own purposes.”
— Sharda Tickoo, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Trend Micro
However, this optimism is tempered by growing apprehension. A striking 94% of respondents believe that AI will negatively impact their cyber risk exposure within the next three to five years. Over half anticipate a surge in the scale and complexity of AI-driven attacks, which they say will force them to rethink and reshape existing cybersecurity strategies.
Sharda Tickoo, Country Manager for India & SAARC at Trend Micro, emphasized the dual-edged nature of AI in cybersecurity: “AI holds enormous promise for strengthening cyber defenses, from identifying anomalies faster to automating time-consuming tasks. But attackers are just as eager to leverage AI for their own purposes, and that creates a rapidly shifting threat landscape. Our research and real-world testing make it clear that security must be built into AI systems from the outset. There is simply too much at stake to treat this as an afterthought.”
The report also highlights specific concerns voiced by organizations, including:
- The risk of sensitive data exposure through AI systems
- Uncertainty around how data is processed and stored by AI models
- Potential exploitation of proprietary data by untrusted or open-source AI frameworks
- Increased compliance pressures due to the proliferation of endpoints, APIs, and shadow IT
Trend Micro’s research team conducted real-world testing on several major AI frameworks, uncovering twelve targeted entries across four platforms. The NVIDIA Triton Inference Server received the most attention, followed by Redis, Chroma, and the NVIDIA Container Toolkit. In some cases, a single vulnerability was enough to achieve full system compromise. In total, seven unique zero-day vulnerabilities were discovered. Vendors have been given 90 days to patch these flaws before technical details are publicly disclosed.
As AI becomes more deeply integrated into enterprise IT environments, Trend Micro urges security leaders to proactively evaluate the evolving risk landscape. The company recommends embedding rigorous security practices into every stage of AI adoption—from development and deployment to monitoring and governance.
The research was conducted by Sapio Research on behalf of Trend Micro, surveying 2,250 IT and cybersecurity professionals across 21 countries in Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific. The findings offer a comprehensive view of how global organizations are navigating the promise and peril of AI in cybersecurity.
