Cyber Vigilance In An Era Of AI

InnovationCyber Vigilance In An Era Of AIByTom Kellermann,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)May 28, 2026, 09:30am EDTTom Kellermann, VP of AI Security and Threat Intelligence at TrendAI. gettyAI has become the new foundation of the modern software stack, and at the core of AI lies intelligence derived from data.AI often has access to a myriad of tools and systems. But that access can be easily abused. AI can bring with it a sentient, malicious and dark passenger. LLMs can be poisoned and forced to hallucinate, or they can also be jailbroken and used for nefarious purposes.As I've observed in the industry, many cybercrime cartels are starting to automate their efforts, employing purpose-built and legitimate AI platforms to weaponize and enhance their operations. Fraud campaigns like phishing can now be run continuously.​At my company, we've observed five key, ominous trends:1. Supply chains can be weaponized. We've observed a 35% surge in AI-related common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs).2. We've recently seen the arrival of the first dynamically generated malware families.3. Deepfake technology has exploded, leading to crimes ranging from kidnapping to business email compromise.4. We've seen the resurgence of steganography, the process in which malware is hidden in image or video files.​5. We've seen jailbreak-as-a-service providers gain notoriety in the industry.​​​Designing Security First​In the AI era, security cannot be an afterthought; it must be part of your design from the beginning. This must include continuous exposure management, identity context, telemetry correlation, human-in-the-loop controls and the ability to validate and simulate adversary paths before they are exploited. Offense must inform your defense. As such, CISOs must predict, prevent, detect and re...