{"id":180932,"date":"2026-01-23T07:22:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T12:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/23\/ai-is-the-wild-west-of-cybersecurity-that-needs-to-be-tamed\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T09:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T14:30:10","slug":"ai-is-the-wild-west-of-cybersecurity-that-needs-to-be-tamed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/23\/ai-is-the-wild-west-of-cybersecurity-that-needs-to-be-tamed\/","title":{"rendered":"AI is the \u201cWild West\u201d of cybersecurity that needs to be tamed"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI is the \u201cWild West\u201d of cybersecurity that needs to be tamed<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/aijourn.com\/ai-is-the-wild-west-of-cybersecurity-that-needs-to-be-tamed\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-01-23 07:22:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: aijourn.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. <\/p>\n

\t\t\tCriminals lurking in the shadows is an image\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0all familiar with. For businesses today, these shadows are cast by unsanctioned tools and\u00a0technology\u00a0being deployed\u00a0by employees\u00a0without formal oversight,\u00a0now\u00a0known as\u00a0shadow AI. This practice is\u00a0becoming prolific across global businesses, which means company security is always at risk.\u00a0Leaders with poorly communicated, or lax, policies around the use of AI\u00a0are\u00a0failing to\u00a0enforce\u00a0governance discipline\u00a0as a\u00a0foundation of workplace culture.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\nGiven how much of an issue shadow AI is becoming, the responsibility falls to roles beyond the CISO to drive\u00a0practices like\u00a0control mapping,\u00a0continuous\u00a0monitoring\u00a0and\u00a0overall\u00a0accountability before regulatory and operational risks spiral.\u00a0The UK\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre has\u00a0recently\u00a0reinforced that security is\u00a0far more than a\u00a0technical concern\u00a0and calls for\u00a0business-wide responsibility. AI sits firmly within that remit.\u00a0Shadow AI is creating a new Wild West of\u00a0security\u00a0risk,\u00a0and the leaders who draw first are more than likely to walk away unscathed.\u00a0\u00a0
\nReal governance\u00a0is more than policies on paper\u00a0
\nWe are starting to see businesses\u00a0evolve how they manage AI risk, whereby they embed it\u00a0into their existing control and governance frameworks,\u00a0treating\u00a0them in the same way as financial or cyber controls, rather than separate.\u00a0
\nYet a\u00a0gap\u00a0remains\u00a0between ambition and execution. Research from\u00a0EY\u00a0shows that while 72% of executives say their organisations have integrated and scaled AI across most initiatives, only 33% believe they have adequate protocols in place to cover all aspects of responsible AI, including accountability\u00a0and security.\u00a0
\nThere\u2019s\u00a0a shift underway.\u00a0Instead of relying on annual reviews or static documentation, leading\u00a0businesses\u00a0are\u00a0monitoring\u00a0AI data inputs,\u00a0outputs\u00a0and behaviour in near real time, applying the same discipline long used in cybersecurity.\u00a0AI demands its own risk mapping exercise against established frameworks like NIST AI Risk Management Framework, with clear ownership split amongst core teams beyond just risk and compliance.\u00a0\u00a0
\nThe steps leaders should take\u00a0
\nShadow AI\u00a0is the\u00a0new shadow IT,\u00a0causing havoc\u00a0across businesses\u00a0without\u00a0guardrails or approval.\u00a0The first thing\u00a0organisations\u00a0need to do is get a handle on their system visibility. Thanks to the accessible nature of AI tools, most businesses\u00a0still\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know where\u00a0the technology lies within\u00a0their workflows. From there, AI governance should be aligned with existing risk and compliance structures\u00a0like\u00a0DORA, ISO\/IEC\u00a042001\u00a0or NIST.\u00a0
\nAbove all else, assurance needs to be continuous. Controls should be\u00a0monitored\u00a0automatically and consistently, not\u00a0just when the\u00a0one-year\u00a0assessment comes around again.\u00a0A crucial element is making sure\u00a0human oversight\u00a0is\u00a0defined\u00a0from the outset. Regulators\u00a0will continue to ask\u00a0who\u2019s\u00a0accountable when AI\u00a0makes a decision, so businesses need to be able to answer.\u00a0
\nNow,\u00a0there\u00a0is a persistent myth that stronger governance will slow\u00a0down\u00a0innovation, but a myth is all it is.\u00a0In reality, the\u00a0right controls give organisations the confidence to innovate\u00a0quickly\u00a0and\u00a0responsibly.\u00a0When transparency is built into the control\u00a0systems from the beginning, teams can move faster because they know\u00a0the\u00a0AI\u00a0is\u00a0being\u00a0monitored\u00a0for performance\u00a0and compliance in real time. Continuous monitoring\u00a0steps in where\u00a0manual\u00a0processes never could, bringing\u00a0automated assurance\u00a0and\u00a0allowing developers to\u00a0maintain\u00a0their pace\u00a0while risk teams\u00a0retain\u00a0visibility.\u00a0
\nAs\u00a0a final point,\u00a0AI risk cannot be managed in isolation. Vendors,\u00a0consultants\u00a0and internal governance bodies all play a role in a broader ecosystem of accountability.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0up to technology vendors\u00a0to\u00a0provide\u00a0complete\u00a0transparency\u00a0across\u00a0the board,\u00a0so that organisations\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0resort to blind trust, but adopt the mindset of\u00a0trust-but-verify. Internal AI ethics boards\u00a0that have already been\u00a0established\u00a0need to go through an evolution as well. There is no longer a place for passive advisory boards when more\u00a0active oversight functions\u00a0are in demand, supported by\u00a0real evidence\u00a0from continuous monitoring tools.\u00a0
\nWhat\u2019s\u00a0next?\u00a0\u00a0
\nLooking ahead, there\u00a0are\u00a0a number of\u00a0AI risks that could still cause headaches for boards\u00a0if \u2013 and\u00a0likely when\u00a0\u2013\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0underestimated.\u00a0Prolific risks usually include\u00a0those from\u00a0supply chains when\u00a0organisations increasingly rely on third-party APIs and pre-trained models without fully auditing their integrity, and then data leakage through generative AI\u00a0tools\u00a0especially when an\u00a0enterprise accelerates\u00a0its use.\u00a0\u00a0
\nWhen dealing with the Wild West of cybersecurity, reaction speed\u00a0determines\u00a0the winners and losers. Sitting and waiting around only opens the door wider for shadow AI\u00a0to turn business systems in unruly and lawless environments. Leaders need\u00a0real-time visibility\u00a0and continuous monitoring\u00a0to bring order\u00a0and control.<\/p>\n

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AI is the \u201cWild West\u201d of cybersecurity that needs to be tamed https:\/\/aijourn.com\/ai-is-the-wild-west-of-cybersecurity-that-needs-to-be-tamed\/ Publish Date:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":180933,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/aijourn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Wild-West.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[26,24],"class_list":["post-180932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-ai","tag-cybersecurity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180932"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180934,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180932\/revisions\/180934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}