Thales Group Report Reveals Surge in AI Agent Adoption and Rising Cybersecurity Budgets Worldwide

Thales Group has released a comprehensive report examining how artificial intelligence is reshaping information security practices around the globe. The study, based on responses from more than 3,000 participants in 20 countries, highlights both the opportunities and the mounting risks created by widespread AI adoption.

According to the findings, 34 percent of organizations are already using AI agents in their operations, while 73 percent intend to implement them within the coming year. The introduction of these autonomous agents has accelerated data processing speeds and volumes, making it significantly harder for security teams to maintain adequate protection levels.

As a direct consequence, the number of companies earmarking dedicated budgets for AI-related security has grown by 50 percent year-over-year. Last year only 20 percent of respondents allocated specific funds for AI security; this year the figure has risen to 30 percent. Nevertheless, 53 percent still cover AI protection costs from their general information-security budgets.

Speed of change within AI ecosystems was cited by 70 percent of respondents as a major security challenge. Additionally, 61 percent confirmed that their AI applications had become direct targets of attacks aimed at exfiltrating sensitive information. New forms of reputational harm are also emerging: 48 percent of organizations reported financial losses caused by AI-generated disinformation, and 59 percent encountered deepfake-based attacks.

Among realized AI-driven attacks, those focused on disclosing confidential data showed the strongest growth. Cloud resources continue to dominate attacker priorities, with cloud storage named by 35 percent, SaaS applications by 34 percent, and cloud management infrastructure by 32 percent of respondents. User credentials have climbed from eighth to fifth place among top targets, cited by 21 percent, while identity data moved from tenth to sixth place.

Regular security audits demonstrate clear benefits. More than half of organizations that conduct routine audits reported no data leaks from cloud services (54 percent) or corporate systems (57 percent). In contrast, only 6 percent of companies that skipped audits could claim the same. Human error remains the leading cause of incidents, accounting for 28 percent of breaches.

Russian companies share concerns about public AI services

The InfoWatch expert center also presented results from a survey conducted by the Russian BISA association among domestic information-security and IT specialists. Respondents identified the transfer of confidential data to public AI services as the primary threat vector (89 percent), followed by risks associated with embedded AI agents and unintended disclosure to third parties (both 59 percent).

Almost half (46 percent) of Russian respondents said they had either experienced or were aware of data leaks involving generative AI tools. While 59 percent acknowledged the value of AI in daily workflows, they stressed the need for better regulation, methods to detect AI-generated text, and mechanisms to recall data from public models. Most organizations currently allow limited use of AI tools (46 percent) and rely on employee training (48 percent) and enhanced monitoring (30 percent) to mitigate risks.