‘As AI-driven threats evolve, so too must our defenses. It's no longer about keeping pace, it's about setting the pace for security resilience’
Employers’ increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) has introduced new cybersecurity threats for many, according to a recent Cisco report.
Overall, 80% of Canadian organisations experienced AI-related incidents in the past year, the report finds.
Generative AI (GenAI) tools are being widely adopted, with 50% of employees using approved third-party tools. However, 17% have unrestricted access to public GenAI platforms, and 72% of IT teams are unaware of these employee interactions—highlighting significant oversight challenges.
“While AI brings promise of new possibilities, it also adds layers of complexity to an already complicated security landscape,” says Cisco.
This is particularly concerning as a growing amount of sensitive data is going to AI tools as the use of the technology becomes increasingly widespread across organisations, according to a previous study.
The following are the types of AI-related security incidents companies experienced in 2024, according to Cisco’s survey of 8,000 private sector security and business leaders in 30 global markets:
“Threats to AI systems and secure data processes remain a blind spot for many companies, despite an abundance of active and increasingly sophisticated attacks,” says Cisco. “Added to that is a general lack of employees’ understanding of the security risks that come with using and developing AI applications.”
Only 49% of respondents believe employees fully understand AI-related cybersecurity threats.
However, while more than half (51%) of companies require their employees to utilize approved third-party generative AI (GenAI) tools through a security service, nearly a quarter (22%) have unrestricted access to publicly available tools.
“This unrestricted access puts sensitive company data at serious risk and could lead employees to inadvertently propagate threats,” reads part of Cisco’s 2025 Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index.
Nearly 9 in 10 (86.5%) of employers experienced a cybersecurity incident in the past 12 months, according to a previous report from CDW Canada.
Despite the cybersecurity pitfalls that employers face due to the use of AI, a big number of employers are also using the technology as a cybersecurity defense, according to Cisco.
Over 8 in 10 (82%) of organizations use AI to understand threats better, 80% for threat detection and 66% for response and recovery, underscoring AI's vital role in strengthening cybersecurity strategies, according to the report.
And nearly all companies are planning to increase their cybersecurity infrastructure spending this year.
"AI has pulled back the curtain on cybersecurity blind spots that many Canadian organizations didn't realize existed," says Robert Barton, chief technology officer, Cisco Canada. "As AI-driven threats evolve, so too must our defenses. It's no longer about keeping pace, it's about setting the pace for security resilience."
Despite the continued popularity of AI among Canadians CEOs, few have been able to adopt the technology throughout their organisation, according to a previous IBM report.
