AI major cybersecurity challenge, but also offers tools for defenders: Thales Chairman

Artificial Intelligence has emerged as a major cybersecurity challenge by increasing the speed, scale and autonomy of cyberattacks, but the technology also presents significant opportunities for defenders, Patrice Caine, Chairman and CEO of Thales said on Thursday.

Caine also warned that encrypted data considered safe today could face a future threat from the advent of quantum computing, with state actors already collecting encrypted information for potential decryption later.

He said cybersecurity has now become a strategic issue not only for chief information security officers but also for governments and company boards, as cyber threats continue to grow.


"AI has proved to be a major cybersecurity challenge, but also a tool to be used by defenders," Caine said, addressing the Thales Cyber Summit 2026.

Caine said the nature of cyberattacks has changed significantly with AI, which has accelerated the speed at which attacks can be launched.

"AI has brought speed and everything happens faster," he said, noting that cyberattacks that earlier required teams of experts can now potentially be carried out with AI-enabled tools.

He also flagged the growing autonomy of AI systems as a particular concern.

"Man was supposed to be in control. AI was not to take decisions without control, without a green signal," Caine said.

AI has effectively become a weapon, he said and cited instances where AI agents have been used in cyber espionage. He also noted cases where AI models have escaped isolated testing environments.

Increasing use of AI agents and large language models brings clear benefits but also creates additional sources of vulnerability.

"We must use AI but also protect AI," Caine said.

He also highlighted a shift in the nature of attackers, saying threats were no longer limited to cybercriminals seeking financial gains. State actors and criminal groups are increasingly targeting companies and governments that operate critical services, seeking access to systems and the ability to disrupt operations.

Attackers, he said, increasingly look for the weakest link in a company's value chain.

Caine said organisations must therefore focus not only on preventing attacks but also on quickly identifying intrusions and limiting their impact.

He said cybersecurity had also become more complex as organisations accumulated multiple security solutions. Some, on average, have seven solutions to protect their data, he added.

Merely adding another standalone solution may not address the problem, with attacks increasingly occurring in the gaps between security systems.

He advocated integrated cybersecurity platforms built around three principles, applying one policy across environments, treating identity as a key control point, and enabling "crypto agility" so encryption can be changed as threats evolve.

Caine added that cybersecurity has been at the centre of Thales' strategy.

The global leader in advanced technologies for the Defence, Aerospace, and Cyber and Digital sectors, has introduced new AI-powered cybersecurity solutions to protect organisations and societies against emerging cybersecurity threats.

Under the theme 'Halfway is no way', the Summit echoed a clear message: when it comes to cybersecurity, there can be no half measures. Protecting requires securing critical applications, data and identities, wherever they are and whenever threats arise, across every layer that organisations rely on.

Bringing together leading cyber experts and a line-up of live demonstrations, the summit showcased the latest cybersecurity innovations.

As artificial intelligence, quantum computing and automation transform both the nature and speed of cyber threats, Thales said it is rolling out cutting-edge technologies, from detecting deepfakes and deploying governed AI agents to preparing for the post-quantum era and delivering advanced cyber protection.

The event also saw the launch of several applications and solutions geared to address the rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape.

Among them is Thales' new hardware security module, Luna 8, designed to help organisations protect their critical data against the emerging quantum computing threat, leveraging advanced post-quantum cryptography.

CipherTrust Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) is Thales' new solution, powered by AI, helping organisations identify and protect sensitive data, finding immediate and automatic mitigations, the company said in a release.

It also launched Sentinel Envelope+, an advanced software protection against new AI-powered attacks.

Besides this, a new partnership with Google Cloud aims to help organisations secure their agentic AI operations with Thales' AI Security Fabric, the company said, adding that the unified approach is designed to protect AI agents, data and interactions across the AI lifecycle.

"Cybersecurity has never been more at the core of the sustainability and resilience of our societies. At a time when AI is advancing at extraordinary speed, we are in a period of profound transformation; one that brings real risks, but also enormous potential for progress," Philippe Vallee, EVP Cyber & Digital Identity at Thales said.

Cybersecurity has a critical role to play in making that future secure, and thus, possible, Vallee added.