Walsh hears cybersecurity fears everywhere

Tim Walsh, CEO and chair of KPMG US, said cybersecurity concerns come up in nearly every meeting with fellow corporate leaders as AI gives bad actors new ways to breach defenses.

“The cyber risks have just elevated to places that we've never seen them before.”

The Hugging Face breach showed the risk

Walsh pointed to the Hugging Face incident this past summer, when OpenAI said an AI agent bypassed controls during an internal cybersecurity evaluation and accessed parts of the open-source AI platform's systems.

CEOs rank cyber threats above all other risks

In a KPMG US survey of four hundred CEOs at major US companies, eighty-five percent said cybercrime and cyber insecurity could affect their company's prosperity over the next three years, more than any other risk.

Cybersecurity tops AI implementation challenges

Cybersecurity was the most commonly cited challenge to implementing AI, ahead of ethical questions, data readiness, cost management, and translating AI spending into measurable returns.

Leaders plan major cybersecurity spending increases

Nearly half of surveyed CEOs said they planned to increase cybersecurity investment over the next three years, citing threats including AI-powered social engineering, AI-assisted phishing or malware, and data and privacy risks tied to AI…

KPMG builds AI-centered defense business

Walsh said KPMG is building a managed cyber-defense business centered on AI as a shield and defense mechanism for companies, and developing services to verify that AI agents operate as intended and give investors confidence…

“Trust around AI is a real thing.”