AI agents shape up to be leading insider threat this year, exec says

Palo Alto Networks Chief Security Intel Officer Wendi Whitmore said that AI agents are emerging as a major internal security risk for companies in 2026, as organizations rapidly adopt autonomous tools, according to The Register.

Gartner estimated that 40% of enterprise applications will use task-specific AI agents by the end of 2026, up from less than 5% in 2025. While these tools can help security teams by fixing code, scanning logs, and handling alerts, they can also create risk if given too many permissions. Whitmore described the "superuser problem," where agents gain wide access without proper oversight. She also warned about future "doppelganger" agents that could act on behalf of executives to approve transactions or contracts.

Attackers could exploit these systems using prompt injection or tool misuse, turning agents into autonomous insiders. Whitmore said prompt-injection risks remain unresolved and that attackers are increasingly using AI to scale their operations.