AI Isn't the Threat. The Weaknesses It Finds Are.
What business leaders can learn from the latest generation of AI-related security incidents
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how businesses operate. From streamlining workflows to improving customer experiences, it is helping organisations achieve more with fewer resources.
But recent security incidents have also offered an important warning. During one controlled cybersecurity evaluation, OpenAI models bypassed safeguards, gained internet access and accessed third-party systems. In a separate incident, an AI agent researching Australian medicine spending gained unauthorised access to public and non-public files within the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service
These were not conventional attacks in which a human explicitly directed an AI system to target a particular organisation. Instead, the agents took unintended actions while pursuing assigned objectives. The lesson is not that AI has suddenly become malicious. It is that increasingly capable and persistent systems can discover and act upon weaknesses in ways their operators may not anticipate.
For business leaders, this reinforces two priorities: establishing clear boundaries around how AI is used, what information it can access and where human oversight is required; and strengthening the cybersecurity foundations that protect the organisation when those boundaries fail.
AI Is Changing The Way Risks Are Discovered
Historically, organisations worried about hackers actively looking for vulnerabilities and attempting to break into networks and systems. Today, organisations must also consider what happens when increasingly capable AI systems interact with their applications, portals, and business processes.
Many business systems were designed with the assumption that a human would be using them. Humans operate relatively slowly, follow expected workflows, and often miss opportunities to exploit unintended behaviours.
AI doesn't think the same way. It can analyse options quickly, test different paths, and identify gaps in logic that may have gone unnoticed for years.
In many cases, AI is simply exposing weaknesses that already existed.
What This Means For Small and Medium Businesses
While headlines often focus on government departments and large enterprises, the lesson is equally important for small and medium businesses.
Many organisations are increasingly using AI tools internally while also using customer portals, online forms, cloud applications, and digital services from the internet.
Business leaders should be asking:
· Do we know which AI tools and cloud applications are being used across the business?
· What systems, data and external services can our AI tools access?
· Are privileged and administrative accounts protected with secure MFA?
· Are internet-facing applications regularly tested, patched and monitored?
· Can we detect unusual access patterns, automated activity and unexpected data movement?
· Do we have a documented process for responding when an AI tool behaves unexpectedly?
· Do we have clear escalation and incident-notification processes?
These questions are no longer just about defending against cyber criminals. They're about ensuring your organisation remains resilient in a world where technology can identify weaknesses at unprecedented speed.
Focus on Strengthening the Foundations
The good news is that most organisations don't need entirely new security strategies to address these risks.
The same foundational controls that protect against today's cyber threats also help reduce the risks associated with emerging AI-driven attacks.
Strong identity protection, multi-factor authentication, secure password management, security awareness training, device security and visibility across cloud applications remain some of the most effective ways to reduce risk.
Just as important is maintaining visibility into what is happening across your environment. As threats become more automated, businesses need the ability to identify unusual behaviour quickly, whether that comes from a compromised account, a malicious actor, or an unexpected interaction with an automated system.
This is where Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services play an important role. Depending on the service and available integrations, MDR can provide continuous monitoring across endpoints and other security signals, helping identify suspicious activity that preventative controls alone may not stop. This enables organisations to detect and respond to threats earlier, often before significant damage occurs.
The combination of strong preventative controls and continuous monitoring provides businesses with a more resilient security posture. Organisations that invest in these cybersecurity fundamentals are typically far better positioned to adapt as AI capabilities and cyber threats continue to evolve.
The Opportunity for Business Leaders
The rise of AI should not discourage businesses from embracing innovation. If anything, it highlights the importance of understanding and strengthening the foundations of cybersecurity.
The organisations that will benefit most from AI over the coming years will be those that balance innovation with governance, visibility, and security.
Rather than asking, “How do we stop AI?”, leaders should ask, “What weaknesses could AI expose in our business today, whether through intentional attack or unintended behaviour?”
That conversation often reveals opportunities to strengthen identity security, improve visibility of business systems, and reduce risk before it becomes a problem.
Key Takeaway
AI is not necessarily creating an entirely new category of vulnerability. In many cases, it is increasing the speed, persistence and scale at which existing weaknesses can be discovered and acted upon.
Businesses that invest in identity security, AI governance, SaaS visibility, vulnerability management, continuous monitoring and well-tested incident response will be better positioned to embrace AI without accepting unnecessary risk.
At Orlo One, we often find that the most valuable improvements are not highly complex. They are foundational controls such as strong identity protection, multi-factor authentication, secure password management, visibility over SaaS and AI usage, endpoint security and continuous monitoring. As AI reshapes both business and the threat landscape, strengthening these foundations has never been more important.
References: https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-incident-and-the-road-ahead/