The Attack Surface Is Expanding: Why Businesses Need to Rethink Security for AI

Artificial intelligence is moving beyond experimentation. AI tools and autonomous agents are increasingly becoming part of everyday business operations, where they interact with users, data, systems and external content.

That creates a new security consideration. The issue is not simply that businesses are using more technology. It is that AI is changing how technology behaves, how information moves through an organisation and how automated actions are carried out.

As a result, security teams need visibility into activity that may not have existed in the same form before. ESET AI Security is designed to address this emerging exposure by extending protection to the ways AI is being used across an organisation.

AI is creating new pathways for threats

Many of the risks associated with AI are not entirely new. Malicious files, compromised systems, unsafe links and suspicious activity have existed for years. What is changing is how these risks can appear.

AI tools and autonomous agents can interact with external content, process information, generate outputs and perform actions within business workflows. These interactions can introduce new pathways through which threats reach an organization.

The ESET AI Security datasheet describes AI as a “new, distinct attack surface” that is becoming part of workflows and applications across organisations. For security and compliance teams, this can create blind spots.

A traditional security approach may provide strong protection for endpoints, applications and users, but organisations also need to understand what is happening when AI tools and autonomous agents become part of those environments. The question therefore becomes:

How does one adopt AI without creating security gaps around the way it operates?

Security needs visibility, not restrictions

The answer is not necessarily to stop employees or organisations from using AI.

Artficial intelligence can become an important part of business workflows, and restricting its use entirely can limit the productivity and innovation organisations are trying to achieve. The more practical approach is to understand where exposure occurs and apply security controls where that activity is taking place.

ESET describes the solution as a dedicated layer of protection designed to secure the ways AI is used across an organisation. It focuses on the points where AI tools, agents and users interact with data, systems and external content. The objective is quite straightforward: Reduce risk without restricting innovation.

What does ESET AI Security do?

ESET AI Security focuses on four core areas: early detection of suspicious activity, monitoring of AI-driven behaviour, visibility into AI activity, and integrated incident reporting and response.

1. Early detection of suspicious activity

Security is more effective when suspicious behaviour can be identified before it develops into a larger incident. ESET AI Security is designed to flag behaviour that may indicate risk before it escalates into a security incident. This matters because the earlier an organisation can identify potentially dangerous activity, the sooner its security teams can investigate and respond.

2. Monitoring of AI-driven behaviour

Visibility is particularly important when autonomous agents are involved.

ESET AI Security tracks how AI tools and agents operate on endpoints, helping identify unusual or unexpected activity. Instead of treating AI activity as something outside the normal security environment, organisations can bring that activity into their security monitoring.

3. Clear visibility into activity

Knowing that an unusual event occurred is only part of the problem. Security teams also need enough information to understand what happened and determine whether action is required.

ESET AI Security provides insight into how AI is behaving, helping teams understand and investigate potential risks faster.

4. Integrated incident reporting and response

When suspicious activity is identified, the next step is investigation.

ESET AI Security automatically creates incidents in ESET PROTECT, supporting a more streamlined process for investigation and action. This is important because security teams should not have to treat AI-related activity as an isolated problem requiring an entirely separate monitoring process.

Two key capabilities for emerging AI-related threats

The second page of the ESET AI Security datasheet introduces two dedicated modules: AI Agent Security and AI Behavioral Monitoring.

AI Agent Security

Autonomous agents can perform actions and interact with information with limited direct human involvement. That creates another area for security teams to consider. AI Agent Security adds a dedicated layer of protection within endpoint security to target threats entering through the AI ecosystem. It is designed to:

• Prevent AI agents from accessing and downloading malicious agents across the AI supply chain.

• Scan AI files, components, URLs and download chains to help stop multistage attacks.

• Support organisations in adopting autonomous agents without opening new security gaps.

The significance is that protection is not limited to the endpoint itself. It also considers the ecosystem around the AI activity and the different points through which malicious content or activity can enter.

AI Behavioral Monitoring

The second capability focuses on behaviour. AI Behavioral Monitoring provides visibility into autonomous AI agents, with a focus on their behaviour and actions.

It is designed to identify suspicious behaviour and flag potentially dangerous AI agent activity as incidents for investigation.  This creates an important distinction. It is not enough to know that an organisation is using AI. Security teams also need to understand what autonomous systems are doing within the environment.

Built into existing security

One of the most important points for organisations considering the adoption of AI security is how the protection fits into their existing environment.

ESET AI Security is integrated directly into ESET endpoint protection. According to the datasheet, this extends existing coverage without adding complexity or requiring new tools. That means organisations can approach AI security as an extension of their existing protection rather than treating it as an entirely separate security stack.

This also matters operationally. Security teams already have to manage endpoints, users, applications, incidents and security controls. Adding another disconnected layer can create more work and make it harder to maintain a clear picture of what is happening.

Integration can help keep AI-related activity within an existing security environment.

Protection where AI activity happens

AI does not operate in one isolated location. Its use can involve endpoints, user interactions and automated processes. ESET AI Security applies security controls where AI activity happens across these areas, according to the datasheet. That approach is important because the security question is no longer simply:

“Is this device protected?” becomes “What is happening across the interactions and processes taking place on this protected device?”

The distinction becomes particularly relevant as autonomous agents take on more tasks and interact with systems and information on behalf of users.

Adoption should not mean accepting unnecessary risk

Businesses do not have to choose between innovation and security. The goal should be to make responsible adoption possible.

ESET positions AI Security around this principle: organisations can adopt AI more confidently while reducing risk without restricting productivity or innovation. That changes the conversation around AI security.

Instead of asking whether an organisation should use AI, the more useful questions are:

• What AI tools are being used?

• What systems and data can they interact with?

• What actions can autonomous agents perform?

• How can unusual behaviour be identified?

And when something suspicious happens, how quickly can security teams investigate it?

These are security questions that become increasingly important as AI becomes embedded into everyday workflows.

The security model needs to evolve with the technology

Technology changes the way organisations work. Security has to keep pace with that change.

The emergence of AI does not make existing cybersecurity principles irrelevant. It makes them relevant in new environments.

What changes is the environment in which those principles have to operate.

AI tools, autonomous agents, user interactions, external content and automated processes can now form part of the same workflow. Each interaction can introduce another point that security teams need to understand and protect.

That is why treating AI as simply another productivity tool can leave an organisation overlooking an important part of its security environment.

ESET AI Security: extending protection to the new attack surface

ESET AI Security is designed to bring these considerations into the existing endpoint security environment. It provides early detection of suspicious activity, monitoring of AI-driven behaviour, visibility into AI activity and integrated incident reporting and response.

Its two dedicated modules, AI Agent Security and AI Behavioral Monitoring, address threats entering through the AI ecosystem and suspicious behaviour from autonomous agents.     

Most importantly, ESET AI Security is designed around a simple principle:

Businesses should be able to adopt new technology without having to accept unnecessary security exposure as the price of innovation. As AI becomes part of more workflows and applications, the organisations that benefit most will not simply be those that adopt it fastest. They will be the ones that understand how to use it while keeping security visible, controlled and ready to respond.