The rise of shadow AI intensifies corporate security threats... The EU issues a stern warning with a €35 million fine

Enterprises are facing a new and powerful risk factor known as “Shadow AI.” This issue is believed to go beyond the Shadow IT problems of the cloud computing era. As employees widely use general-purpose AI tools, the compliance issues and data-leakage risks facing organizations are increasing day by day, potentially leading to substantial regulatory penalties. With the EU AI Act allowing fines of up to €35 million, the importance of AI security has become even more pronounced amid this escalating crisis.

Russ Schafer, Fortinet’s vice president of marketing, said: “From the time a ransomware incident occurs to the response, the entire process takes less than 4 minutes.” He emphasized that IT organizations on average need more than 180 hours to detect and respond to ransomware attacks, warning that attackers will make the most of organizational information during that window. But he also said that by integrating agent-based AI through the platform, this type of response time can be significantly shortened.

Fortinet recently added support for more than 21 AI agents and model context protocol functions through the FortiOS 8.0 update. This capability not only focuses on Fortinet’s own environment, but is also designed to provide third-party environments with visibility and control. Schafer explained: “Three pillars support an agent-based AI security framework.” Namely trust and architecture, and the integration capability of agents like fabric. These principles lay the foundation for AI security, and Fortinet’s integrated platform is becoming a key tool for achieving these goals.