AI adoption accelerates security risks in hybrid cloud

Hybrid cloud infrastructure is under mounting strain from the growing influence of artificial intelligence, according to a new report.

The study, from observability specialist Gigamon, of over 1,000 global security and IT leaders, shows breach rates have surged to 55 percent during the past year, representing a 17 percent year-on-year rise, with AI-generated attacks emerging as a key driver of this growth.

The study reveals that 46 percent of respondents say managing AI-generated threats is now their top security priority. One in three organizations report that network data volumes have more than doubled in the past two years due to AI workloads, while nearly half of all respondents (47 percent) are seeing a rise in attacks targeting their organization's large language model (LLM) deployments. More than half (58 percent) say they've seen a surge in AI-powered ransomware -- up from 41 percent in 2024 -- underscoring how adversaries are exploiting AI to outpace and outflank existing defenses.

When it comes to tackling the problem, 91 percent say they need to make compromises in securing and managing their hybrid cloud infrastructure. The key challenges that create these compromises include the lack of clean, high-quality data to support secure AI workload deployment (46 percent) and lack of comprehensive insight and visibility across their environments, including lateral movement in East-West traffic (47 percent).

Use of the public cloud is also coming under increasingly intense scrutiny. Many organizations are rethinking their cloud strategies in the face of their growing exposure, with 70 percent of security and IT leaders now saying they view the public cloud as a greater risk than any other environment. In consequence, 70 percent report their organization is actively considering repatriating data from public to private cloud due to security concerns and 54 percent are reluctant to use AI in public cloud environments, citing fears around intellectual property protection.

"This year's survey signals a profound shift in risk management priorities, and the time has come to recalibrate how hybrid cloud infrastructure is secured and managed in the AI era," says Chaim Mazal, chief security officer at Gigamon. "Deep observability provides that recalibration by combining traditional log data with network-derived telemetry, giving security teams the clarity to see through encrypted traffic, detect AI-powered threats, and strengthen defenses before the blast radius expands. With 88 percent of security and IT leaders recognizing its importance for securing AI deployments, this approach has become foundational to modern cybersecurity."

You can get the full report from the Gigamon site.

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