AI Governance Gaps Expose 70% of Enterprises to Unauthorized GenAI Activity and Data Leaks
What Happened — A Check Point 2026 Cloud Security Report finds that 70 % of organizations run generative AI (GenAI) in production, yet only 5 % have visibility into the AI tools and services operating inside their environments. More than half of surveyed firms have experienced at least one AI‑related security incident, ranging from shadow AI deployments to AI‑generated phishing, deepfakes, and sensitive data exfiltration.
Why It Matters for TPRM —
- Uncontrolled AI agents can obtain privileged access to core systems, creating a new attack surface for third‑party risk.
- Lack of visibility hampers the ability to enforce contractual security controls and to audit vendor‑provided AI services.
- Data flowing to external AI providers may violate data‑privacy regulations and expose confidential information.
Who Is Affected — Technology‑focused enterprises (SaaS, cloud‑hosted platforms, API providers), financial services, healthcare, and any organization that embeds AI into core business processes.
Recommended Actions —
- Conduct an AI‑specific inventory of all models, APIs, and agents used by third‑party vendors.
- Enforce AI governance policies through centralized policy engines and AI‑aware network inspection.
- Require vendors to provide evidence of AI security controls, data‑handling agreements, and audit logs.
Technical Notes — The report highlights three primary incident categories: (1) unauthorized or “shadow” AI deployments, (2) AI‑generated phishing/deepfake content, and (3) data leaks via AI services. Attack vectors include API misuse, insufficient access controls, and inadequate traffic inspection for AI‑related east‑west flows. Source: Help Net Security – Check Point GenAI Security Controls Report