Trend Micro Study: Global Firms Back Innovation, Brace for New Cyber Threats

Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) cybersecurity leader Trend Micro Incorporated has published new research revealing that while organisations are embracing AI to strengthen their cyber defences, many are increasingly concerned about the technology’s potential to expand their attack surface and introduce new risks.

Rachel Jin, Chief Enterprise Platform Officer at Trend Micro, said: “AI holds enormous promise for strengthening cyber defences, 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.”

According to the Trend Micro-commissioned study, 81% of global businesses are already using AI-driven tools as part of their cybersecurity strategy, with a further 16% actively exploring implementation. Nearly all respondents (97%) are open to using AI in some capacity. Over half are already relying on it for essential processes such as automated asset discovery, risk prioritisation and anomaly detection. AI and automation are now considered top priorities for improving cybersecurity over the next 12 months by 42% of surveyed organisations.

Trend Micro Warns of Significant Risks Associated with AI

This optimism also comes with significant risk. An overwhelming 94% of businesses believe that AI will negatively impact their cyber risk exposure within the next three to five years. Over half expect a surge in the scale and complexity of AI-driven attacks, which they say will force them to rethink and reshape existing cybersecurity strategies.

Additionally, many point to the risk of sensitive data exposure, uncertainty around how data is processed and stored by AI systems, the potential for proprietary data to be exploited by untrusted models, as well as increased compliance pressures and monitoring challenges stemming from a proliferation of new endpoints, APIs, and shadow IT.

The tension between opportunity and risk was evident at Trend Micro’s Pwn2Own event in Berlin, where the AI category was introduced for the first time. The results offered a compelling snapshot of where AI security currently stands.

Twelve entries targeted four major AI frameworks, with the NVIDIA Triton Inference Server receiving the most attention. Chroma, Redis, and the NVIDIA Container Toolkit were also successfully exploited, in some cases using just a single bug to achieve full compromise. In total, seven unique zero-day vulnerabilities were uncovered in the AI frameworks. The vendors now have 90 days to patch the flaws before technical details are made public.

As AI becomes more deeply integrated in enterprise IT environments, Trend Micro urges security leaders to proactively evaluate the evolving risk landscape and embed rigorous security practices into every stage of AI adoption