AI Security Threats Coming From Outside And Inside, And Few Are Ready

InnovationEnterprise TechAI Security Threats Coming From Outside And Inside, And Few Are ReadyByJoe McKendrick,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Joe McKendrick covers how technology moves markets and careersFollow AuthorMay 19, 2026, 11:55am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.AI greatly amplifies threatsgettyWalter White’s fictional meth enterprise in Breaking Bad may have been about nefarious as it gets, but it represented a highly efficient business model – with tightly enforced production, distribution, partnerships, and repeat business. Similarly, today’s digital and AI bad guys run on business models that leverage the latest technologies, particularly AI, and appear to be light years ahead of legitimate businesses. If anything, businesses aren’t ready to handle the AI-borne tsunami of cybersecurity threats coming their way, warns Patrick Coughlin, author of The Dark Side of the Boom and co-founder and CEO of Savi Security. The security issues with AI come from both the outside and inside organizations themselves. With the outside AI threat, "while the rest of the world is looking for the productivity gains from AI in the S&P 500, cybercriminal syndicates have already implemented and adopted this and are seeing ROI faster,” Coughlin pointed out in a recent chat.Ironically, there is more "innovation coming from these cybercriminals syndicates, who are implementing AI faster, and are moving faster,” he said. "The cybercriminal enterprise is actually the earliest and best adopter of AI. The groups that have their on-chain activity linked to integrations, via API to AI tools, are generating 4-1/2 times more revenue, they are generating nine times the amount of velocity in terms of the campaigns that are being sent.”Criminal organizations are not the best use case for AI by any means, but the implication is t...