AI Is Involved in Most Modern Security Breaches: Report

AI plays a major role in modern security breaches, as a new report from the cybersecurity firm Gigamon demonstrates. Attackers are increasingly using AI to write more convincing phishing emails, automate password attacks, tailor malware to targets, and more, making older tactics much more dangerous. And while AI is also used in defense, such as monitoring, detection, and response, companies often leave themselves open to attacks by rolling out AI tools faster than they can implement proper security protocols.

Gigamon's 2026 Hybrid Cloud Security Survey indicates that AI was involved in 83% of breaches across more than 1,000 surveyed organizations, either on the attacker side, on the defender side, or through misuse such as shadow AI.

This figure includes cases in which AI security tools were present but were not successful in stopping the breach. By contrast, IBM data shows that around 16% of breaches in its sample involved attackers using AI, and 13% of organizations experienced breaches of AI models or applications due to insufficient access controls.

On the defense side, AI can help teams detect anomalies and respond more quickly, but only when organizations pair it with strong policies, access controls, and monitoring.