AI: It’s Here, It’s Deployed…Is It Secure?

Adopting AI didn’t happen overnight, and many mid-market organizations didn’t come to formal, company-wide decision to adopt it. The process occurred gradually, as any new tool adoption does: a tool here, a platform there, several employees using GenAI to speed up their work, others to interpret data to save them time.

And that’s the reality of how technology adoption works: it begins with little experiments here and there – some known, some under the radar – until the organization is forced to make a bigger, company-wide decision about AI…for productivity, a better bottom line, and for security.

And if anything from Netrio’s The Mid-Market AI Readiness Report stands out, it’s that 73% of respondents indicated they’d either suffered an AI-related security incident or near miss. This brings to light one of the more challenging aspects of technology adoption: ongoing security.

The Gap Between Deployment and Security

The report, which shows the results of a Censuswide survey of 401 U.S. IT leaders at organizations with 200 to 5,000 employees, found that 82% of mid-market organizations already have AI in use somewhere in their business. That’s a clear, resounding majority of businesses.

At the same time, only 42% of respondents stated they have a formal AI policy with actively enforced controls, and only 53% say they have full visibility into which AI tools their employees are using.

And that is where the gap widens between how widely AI is deployed and used versus how well it is governed. That gap is where the security risk threatens to grow.

And the consequences of those risks are already showing up for many organizations. 42% of respondents reported a confirmed AI-related security incident or data exposure in the past 12 months (from when the survey was conducted in April 2026). Another 31% acknowledged a near-miss.

Combined, that amounts to nearly three-quarters of mid-market organizations having experienced an AI-related security event in the last year alone.

Where the Security Risk Comes From

The underlying causes of security risk aren’t surprising, but avoiding compounding risk requires concerted effort. The most common culprits of AI-related security risk are:

• Shadow AI: This is when an employee utilizes AI tools without IT approval, and research shows 57% of employees use unapproved AI coding tools, leading to sensitive data leaks. Anything from customer records to financial information or proprietary processes can be pasted into risky AI tools without clarity about where the information goes or how it might be stored, shared, or used to train models.
• Visibility gaps make it worse: Just under half of respondents to Netrio’s survey reported lacking full visibility into which AI tools are in use across the organization. Organizations can’t govern what they can’t see; without clear visibility, security teams are left reacting to incidents instead of preventing risks caused by tools they don’t know are being used.
• Governance and adoption are proceeding at different rate: Around 58% of respondents either don’t have a formal AI policy in use or they have one that isn’t enforced. In the absence of clear guidelines, employees will default to convenience, which is hardly ever the most secure option for the organization.

Staying Secure Alongside AI Adoption

Keeping an organization secure while adopting AI doesn’t require slowing down adoption. It does, however, require building the governance structure that allows AI to scale safely and securely.

For many mid-market organizations, that can begin with three crucial steps:

1. Understand what’s already deployed: An inventory of AI tools, from sanctioned ones to shadow activity and third-party integrations that embed AI features, gives security teams a baseline to work from. You can’t patch gaps if you’re unaware that those gaps exist.
2. Establish clear data handling policies: Some AI tools are better suited for your organizations’ uses than others. Many organizations require explicit guidance on what can or can’t be entered into which tools, especially when sensitive data, regulated information, or proprietary business content come into play.
3. Build governance before you need it: The organizations that handle AI security incidents the best aren’t necessarily the ones that flaunt the most sophisticated technology, but they’re likely the ones who have established clear policies, ownership, and oversight before something goes wrong. Governance is much easier to establish proactively than impose in response to an incident.

Adopting, and Winning, with AI: Security at the Center

The organizations that invest in AI governance now are realizing the advantage it poses for them. They’re avoiding accumulated risk, while others struggle under the weight of mounting threats that will become more expensive to address as AI-powered threats become more powerful.

73.1% of mid-market organizations have already experienced an AI security incident or near-miss. That kind of number means that AI security doesn’t just deserve attention, it deserves proactive planning. It deserves governance.

It deserves a partner who can set your organization up for success, security, and stability.

Ready to talk about your AI adoption? Contact us today.

Looking to dive deeper into the Mid-Market AI Readiness Report? Download it here.

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