AI Agents Are the New Attack Surface. Most Security Teams Have No Budget Line For It.

In our August 2026 security data, 58 percent of senior security leaders name securing AI agents and their access as the biggest AI security problem on their desk. Shadow AI, tools the organization uses without approval, is second at 27 percent. AI-powered attacks rank fourth at 13 percent. The top of the CISO's stack is governance of what their own company is deploying, not what adversaries are sending.

Now the budget side. Only 36 percent of security teams report a dedicated AI security budget line. A third fund AI security case by case, with no standing money. One in six report no AI security spend at all. A majority of security leaders name a problem that fewer than four in ten have a budget to work.

The direction of travel is at least encouraging: the no-spend share shrank through July as money started arriving. But the modal CISO in our rooms is still making the case for the line item, usually to a finance organization that our companion data shows is uncertain about its own AI budget.

If that is you, the peer numbers above are your ammunition. Full data: CISO AI Leverage Report, August 2026. The next CISO Roundtable Dinner is August 27 in Los Altos Hills, and we will be at Black Hat with coffee on August 2.

Last updated: August 3, 2026

Murray Newlands

Founder, Open Future Forum

Murray Newlands has been building executive communities in Silicon Valley since 2019. Open Future Forum hosts private dinners and events for C-suite leaders and board directors navigating the AI era, grounded in a give-first philosophy.

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