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A succession of recent high‑profile breaches has shown that the UK remains vulnerable to ever‑more advanced cyber threats. This exposure is intensifying as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in everyday business operations. AI tools have become essential for organizations seeking to deliver value and maintain competitiveness. Yet, its benefits also bring risks that far too many organizations have yet to fully mitigate.

CyberArk’s latest research identifies AI as a complex “triple threat”. It is being leveraged as an attack vector, utilized defensively, and—perhaps most worryingly—creating significant new security gaps. In light of this evolving threat landscape, organizations must position identity security at the heart of their AI strategies if they wish to build future resilience.

AI has raised the bar for traditional attack methods. Phishing, which remains the most common entry point for identity breaches, has evolved beyond poorly worded emails to sophisticated scams that use AI-generated deepfakes, cloned voices and authentic-looking messages.

Nearly 70% of UK organizations fell victim to successful phishing attacks last year, with more than a third reporting multiple incidents. This shows that even robust training and technical safeguards can be circumvented when attackers use AI to mimic trusted contacts and exploit human psychology.

It is no longer enough to assume that conventional perimeter defenses can stop such threats. Organizations must adapt by layering in stronger identity verification processes and building a culture where suspicious activity is flagged and investigated without hesitation.

While AI is strengthening attackers’ capabilities, it is also transforming how defenders operate. Nearly nine in ten UK organizations now use AI and large language models to monitor network behavior, identify emerging threats and automate repetitive tasks that previously consumed hours of manual effort. In many security operations centers, AI has become an essential force multiplier that allows small teams to handle a vast and growing workload.

Almost half of organizations expect AI to be the biggest driver of cybersecurity spending in the coming year. This reflects a growing recognition that human analysts alone cannot keep up with the scale and speed of modern attacks. However, AI-powered defense must be deployed responsibly.

Over-reliance without sufficient human oversight can lead to blind spots and false confidence. Security teams must ensure AI tools are trained on high-quality data, tested rigorously, and reviewed regularly to avoid drift or unexpected bias.

The third element of the triple threat is the rapid growth in machine identities and AI agents. As employees embrace new AI tools to boost productivity, the number of non-human accounts accessing critical data has surged, now outnumbering human users by a ratio of 100 to one.

Many of these machine identities have elevated privileges but operate with minimal governance. Weak credentials, shared secrets and inconsistent lifecycle management create opportunities for attackers to compromise systems with little resistance.

Shadow AI is compounding this challenge. Research indicates that over a third of employees admit to using unauthorized AI applications, often to automate tasks or generate content quickly. While the productivity gains are real, the security consequences are significant. Unapproved tools can process confidential data without proper safeguards, leaving organizations exposed to data leaks, regulatory non-compliance and reputational damage.

Addressing this risk requires more than technical controls alone. Organizations should establish clear policies on acceptable AI use, educate staff on the risks of bypassing security, and provide approved, secure alternatives that meet business needs without creating hidden vulnerabilities.

Positioning identity security at the heart of digital strategy Securing AI‑driven enterprises requires embedding identity security at every layer of an organization's digital strategy. That means ensuring real‑time visibility of all identities - human, machine or AI agent -applying least privilege consistently, and continuously monitoring for unusual access behavior that may signal a breach.

Forward‑facing organizations are already updating their access and identity management frameworks to meet AI’s distinct demands. This entails adopting just‑in‑time access for machine identities, monitoring privilege escalation, and treating all AI agents with the same scrutiny as human accounts.

AI offers tremendous value for organizations that embrace it responsibly, but without robust identity security, that value can swiftly become a liability. The businesses that thrive will be those recognizing that resilience isn’t optional- it’s the foundation for long‑term growth.

At a time where businesses and their adversaries are both empowered by AI, one principle stands firm: securing AI begins and ends with securing identity.

We list the best software asset management (SAM) tools.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Back in 2020, the European Parliament published a briefing paper which set out “growing concern that the citizens, businesses and Member States of the European Union (EU) are gradually losing control over their data, over their capacity for innovation, and over their ability to shape and enforce legislation in the digital environment.”

At the heart of the matter is the domination that the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Google have established over the European cloud computing market. One of the effects of their success is that the region now faces significant challenges in ensuring data is subject to the laws and governance structures of the country or region in which it is collected, stored or processed.

For organizations based in the EU hosting their data with providers based elsewhere, this raises serious questions about who ultimately has jurisdiction over that data and whether it can be governed by foreign legal frameworks beyond their control.

Let’s also be clear - the market-leading hyperscalers offer efficiency, scale and a whole host of other compelling advantages. They are all highly innovative, trusted providers that have transformed how businesses operate and have enabled extraordinary digital progress at speed and scale.

Thousands of European organizations rely on – and will continue to rely on – these brands for good reason. At the same time, however, it’s also vital that organizations understand that where they store their data, and under whose jurisdiction it falls, carries implications far beyond IT.

Whether viewed through a political, economic, or operational lens, data sovereignty matters. In some scenarios, it can shape access rights, trigger regulatory obligations or even expose organizations to geopolitical risk.

For example, laws in one country could compel a cloud provider to share data stored in another, an issue that’s been flagged in relation to executive powers and national security mandates at the disposal of foreign governments.

So, how is the landscape changing? Firstly, there are a number of promising European cloud initiatives, including regulatory developments, sovereign cloud frameworks and consortium-based models designed to create local alternatives to the all-in-one hyperscaler stack. However, these solutions are not without their challenges, with cost, fragmentation, scalability and adoption hurdles potentially standing in the way of an effective regional system.

For many organizations, a full switch isn’t viable due to issues such as existing investment commitments, operational complexity and the simple absence of mature, like-for-like alternatives that can match the scale and capabilities of established providers.

The US hyperscalers are also getting in on the act. This time last year, for instance, AWS announced plans to invest €7.8 billion in the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, an initiative which the company says reinforces its “commitment to offer customers the most advanced set of sovereignty controls, privacy safeguards, and security features available in the cloud.”

How this plays out remains to be seen, but whatever route organizations favor in the pursuit of data sovereignty, access to choice and autonomy over where their data is stored is likely to grow in importance as time passes.

For European organizations in this position, and there are many, the good news is that they don’t need to wait for systemic changes in the cloud landscape to start regaining control. Data sovereignty can be addressed today through the implementation of modern, vendor-neutral data management technologies, which enable them to visualize their entire data landscape and apply consistent policies across disparate storage environments.

Armed with a unified view of their data across cloud and on-premises environments, organizations can then make informed choices about what data to store, where to store it and how best to safeguard it.

The obvious starting point is visibility because, without knowing what data exists, where it resides and how it moves, businesses are flying blind. This is particularly significant and challenging in contemporary multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud environments, where data can be extremely fragmented, often with little consistency or oversight.

But by establishing a clear picture of all data assets, classifying them based on sensitivity and business value and ensuring local copies of critical data are always available, IT management can also enforce policies that align with governance and regulatory requirements.

In the end, this is not just a technology and geography issue; it goes much deeper to cover everything from business resilience and compliance to control and, ultimately, customer trust. Europe’s digital future will depend not only on where its data lives, but on who can access it, govern it and protect it.

As the European Parliament data sovereignty briefing concludes, “Building a secure pan-European data framework and adopting new standards and practices to provide trustworthy and controllable digital products and services would ensure a safer digital environment.”

We list the best cloud storage.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro