The top 6 AI security trends for 2026—and how companies can prepare

AI is changing the threat landscape faster than organizations can respond. AI-generated phishing and fraud have increased sharply year-over-year, and GenAI is enabling more sophisticated cyber attacks than ever before. 

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Businesses are feeling the pain. Our team at Vanta surveyed 2,500 business and IT leaders across the globe and found that nearly three-quarters believe AI threats are outpacing their ability to manage them. 

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The third edition of our State of Trust report reveals a widening gap between AI adoption and readiness. As AI usage grows, security leaders have reported that they have a limited understanding of how to manage the risks that come with increased adoption.  

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Still, AI is having a positive impact on many companies—AI tools, including agents, are helping teams increase efficiency and reduce burnout. 

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At Vanta, we see this tension play out often: AI brings meaningful efficiency gains, while also exposing risks in a company’s underlying security posture. But by grounding AI initiatives in strong security fundamentals, building intentional governance, and automating repetitive work that slows teams down, organizations can turn AI into a source of strength, and increase customer trust in the process.

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1. AI is amplifying the volume and precision of cybersecurity attacks

Cybersecurity threats are growing in number, frequency, and nature. AI is a key driver, amplifying not only the volume but also the precision of these attacks.

• 72% of security decision-makers say risk has never been higher (up from 55% in 2024)
• 56% experience threat activity at least once a week.
• Half of companies report an uptick in AI-generated phishing, malware, and identity theft/fraud

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The unrelenting pace of attacks is leading to burnout for security professionals. To combat them and stay ahead, security leaders need real‑time visibility and faster ways to prioritize threats and avoid backlogs.

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The Vanta POV: Automation can mitigate attacks 

“Many organizations still rely on manual processes for access governance, identity reviews, and incident response,” says Khushboo Kashyap, Senior Director of GRC at Vanta. “Automating these workflows can help teams keep up with the increased pace of threats.” 

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2. Organizations are adopting AI faster than they can secure it

Most organizations haven’t built the baseline maturity required for AI to be a true force multiplier. Instead, they’re implementing AI products, tools, and agents without clearly defined governance frameworks and policies, increasing security risks to their business. 

• 59% say AI-related security threats outpace their expertise
• Only 44% have a company AI policy, and 45% conduct regular AI risk assessments
• Governance around data is weak: less than half apply strict data minimization; only 35% rely solely on anonymized data to train AI

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The Vanta POV: Addressing AI risks starts with a strong foundation

Before adding new AI frameworks, businesses need to first establish the right people, processes, and technology to understand AI. This could include tailored AI playbooks and training, clear policies on AI usage, and strong access controls and identity proofing. 

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“AI adoption can amplify a solid security and compliance program, but it won’t fix fundamental gaps,” notes Khushboo. 

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3. Agentic AI adoption is high, but control is low

When it comes to agentic AI in particular, organizations are racing ahead to implement agents without clear guardrails in place. 

• 79% are using or actively planning to use agentic AI this year
• 65% say their use of agentic AI outpaces their understanding of it
• Only 48% have a framework for granting or limiting autonomy in AI systems
• 61% are comfortable with agents overriding human decisions in some scenarios, while 62% fear agentic AI could erode customer trust

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The Vanta POV: AI agents need human oversight 

To safeguard against agentic AI risk, Khushboo stresses that human oversight must remain a core part of agentic workflows. Humans should design the scope, validate outputs, and ensure all actions are auditable and reversible. “AI agents can be very powerful,” Khushboo notes, “but only if humans are defining the rules and reviewing what they do.”

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4. Security helps gain customer trust, but businesses don’t know how to prove it

Customer trust has become a growth driver in business today, and maintaining a strong security posture can help companies earn and keep it. 

• 82% say improving security and compliance directly boosts customer trust (vs 67% in 2024)
• 77% say stakeholders demand verified proof of compliance (vs 65% in 2024)

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But the way businesses prove their security is broken. Security teams are stuck in high-effort, repetitive audit cycles and manual evidence collection, leaving them little time to focus on security improvements. 

• 61% say they spend more time proving security than improving it
• 64% say today’s security frameworks feel like “security theater”
• Teams spend 12 weeks per year on compliance

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The Vanta POV: Systematize evidence collection

Khushboo has often observed Vanta customers getting stuck in a cycle of compliance busywork. Systemizing and automating collection can help. “When teams stop doing manual, screenshot-based evidence collection, they get time back for actual risk reduction,” she says. 

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5. AI has increased third-party vendor risk

Third-party ecosystems are fragile, and AI has only increased this fragility. Vendor risk is now intertwined with AI risk, and static assessments can’t keep up.

• 67% say they have strong visibility into third-party risk
• But 56% have experienced a vendor breach in the past 6–12 months (up from 48%)
• 57% have terminated a vendor over security concerns (up from 50%)
• Teams spend 9 working weeks per year on vendor reviews and assessments (up from 7)

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As many third-party tools now embed AI agents or LLM capabilities, organizations need AI-specific sections in vendor questionnaires and contracts, specifically for data usage, model training, and IP risk.

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The Vanta POV: Continuous monitoring is essential

“You have to ask your vendors: Are they training models on your data? Are you permitting that? What guardrails exist?” Khushboo says. 

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Static reviews can’t capture all AI behaviors or new vulnerabilities. Continuous monitoring, Khushboo says, is the only realistic way to manage a vendor ecosystem that’s constantly evolving.

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6. AI introduces new risks but also offers powerful ways to mitigate them

While AI creates new attack surfaces, it’s also one of the most effective tools for managing risk at scale. Business leaders using AI are already seeing meaningful security outcomes: 

• 95% say AI and automation have improved security team effectiveness
• 51% report faster risk assessments
• 50% see improved accuracy
• 36% cite streamlined compliance
• 79% say their security team is increasing its usage of AI in security programs
• 76% say AI is reducing burnout by removing manual, repetitive tasks

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These findings underscore an important truth: AI can harden defenses, increase efficiency, and support continuous monitoring, but only if teams have the governance, controls, and human oversight to use it safely. 

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The Vanta POV: AI can transform security

Khushboo highlights several high-value security use cases where AI can help scale programs and boost trust: SOC alert triage, threat correlation, vulnerability prioritization, non-human identity governance, and secure coding support. “These are areas where AI can meaningfully transform security operations,” she says.

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Building the foundation for trustworthy AI

The State of Trust data shows a widening gap between adoption and readiness. But by grounding AI initiatives in strong security fundamentals and building intentional governance, AI can become a source of strength. 

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The companies that embrace this shift will be the ones best equipped to navigate AI-driven threats and earn the confidence of their customers.

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