AI Adoption Surges While Governance Lags — Report Warns of Growing Shadow Identity Risk

According to CyberNewsWire, the 2025 State of AI Data Security Report finds AI adoption to be nearly universal in enterprises, with 83 percent of organisations already using AI in daily operations, but only 13 percent reporting strong visibility into how these systems handle sensitive data.

The study, drawing on 921 cybersecurity and IT professionals, shows AI increasingly acting as an ungoverned identity that reads faster, accesses more, and operates continuously, while human-centric identity models struggle to match machine speed. Two-thirds of respondents have observed AI tools over-accessing sensitive information, and 23 percent admit they have no controls for prompts or outputs.

Autonomous AI agents emerge as the most exposed frontier, with 76 percent saying these agents are the hardest systems to secure and 57 percent lacking the ability to block risky AI actions in real time. Governance lags adoption, with only 7 percent of organisations having a dedicated AI governance team and 11 percent feeling prepared for emerging regulatory requirements, according to CyberNewsWire.

“AI is no longer just another tool — it’s acting as a new identity inside the enterprise, one that never sleeps and often ignores boundaries,” said Holger Schulze with Cybersecurity Insiders.