What Is the Biggest AI Security Problem for CISOs in 2026?

Securing AI agents and their access is the most frequently named problem, selected by 68 percent of respondents to Open Future Forum’s security instrument. Data leakage follows at 29 percent, shadow AI at 28 percent and AI-enabled attacks at 19 percent (base 151, any mention).

What this does not prove: the respondents are applicants to security-focused events and are not a probability sample of all CISOs; the 151-response cohort includes security, technology, CEO/founder and other titles, not 151 CISOs. The result measures reported priorities, not incident prevalence. The figures were collected through September 30, 2026.

Primary sources: CISO AI Leverage Report, October 2026 and Executive AI Statistics, October 2026. Data collected through September 30, 2026 from a selective operator sample, not a probability sample.

CISOs work these problems off the record at the CISO Executive Forum roundtable dinners; the next is August 27, 2026, in Los Altos Hills.