Experian: AI now powers 40% of data breaches, agentic systems the next threat
Source: Bloomberg
Experian reports that nearly half of the 5,000 breaches it handled in 2025 involved AI-powered attacks. This marks a shift from AI as a vulnerability surface to AI as an active weapon in intrusion. The company predicts agentic AI will become the leading cause of breaches in 2026. Autonomous systems that can adapt, escalate, and exfiltrate data without human intervention create a different defense problem than static malware or social engineering. Enterprise security teams built for human-speed threats now face systems that operate faster and at scale. Reactive breach response becomes a structural liability.