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Protect your business from AI-assisted fraud and attacks on AI systems by strengthening account security, maintaining recoverable backups, reducing exposed services, and preparing people and plans to respond. AI can help criminals create convincing messages or impersonations, but businesses also need to secure the AI and machine-learning systems they use. Official guidance identifies these risks; it does not establish a current figure for how much AI increases ordinary business attack rates.
Start with the seven safeguards
These safeguards address overlapping risks, rather than forming an official seven-step framework. Prioritize them according to the accounts, systems, data, and business functions whose compromise would cause the greatest harm.
| Safeguard | First action | Ongoing owner |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Phishing-resistant MFA | Identify high-impact accounts that lack it | IT or identity administrator |
| 2. Recoverable backups | Confirm protected copies exist and can be restored | IT or continuity lead |
| 3. Less internet-facing exposure | Review services reachable from the internet | IT or system owners |
| 4. Staff detection and reporting | Set a simple path for reporting suspicious activity | Security and people managers |
| 5. Independent verification | Define how unusual high-impact requests are checked | Finance and process owners |
| 6. Response and continuity exercises | Assign decision-makers and test a critical function | Senior leadership |
| 7. AI-system risk management | Inventory AI systems, data flows, and access | Security and AI owners |
1. Make account takeover harder with phishing-resistant MFA
Prioritize phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA) for email, virtual private networks (VPNs), administrator accounts, executives, and accounts that can reach critical systems. CISA recommends MFA for important access, while the FBI’s 2026 Operation Winter SHIELD resource identifies FIDO2-compliant security keys and device-bound passkeys as options for authentication, remote access, and critical systems.
Check that your identity provider, devices, and applications support the method before choosing it. Roll it out first to the accounts with the greatest access, then address remaining users and recovery procedures. A security key or passkey makes some credential-theft attacks harder; it does not prevent every kind of account compromise, nor does possession of a key complete an account-security program.
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2. Keep backups that can actually be restored
CISA’s StopRansomware guidance recommends encrypting backup data, making backups immutable so they cannot be changed or deleted, and covering organizational data infrastructure. Map what the business would need to resume work—not only files, but also the systems and data those operations depend on—and check that backup coverage matches.
Test restoration by recovering selected data and, where feasible, a critical service. A successful backup job is not proof that the organization can recover: restoration can fail because copies are incomplete, inaccessible, or unusable. Backups support recovery from disruption; they do not by themselves prevent data theft or guarantee uninterrupted operations.
3. Reduce unnecessary internet-facing exposure
Review services reachable from the internet, disable those no longer needed, and restrict necessary services to people with a business need. CISA’s ransomware guidance recommends these steps to reduce attack opportunities. They are sound attack-surface management, not controls designed specifically for AI.
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Have system owners identify why each exposed service is required, who needs access, and who is responsible for keeping it configured and maintained. If a service must remain available, limit access where practical and revisit the decision when its business use changes.
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4. Train staff to notice risk and report quickly
AI tools can help produce polished, personalized phishing messages, so grammar mistakes are not a dependable test of legitimacy. CISA’s LockBit advisory discusses AI-assisted phishing and recommends practical awareness training; it also identifies external-email warning banners as a possible measure.
Train employees to pause over unexpected requests, links, attachments, and changes to payment or account details. Give them a clear way to report a suspicious message or call, and respond without blame when someone reports a mistake or near miss. Earlier reporting gives the organization a chance to investigate before a problem spreads.
5. Independently verify surprising, high-impact requests
The FBI warns that convincing synthetic content, including deepfakes, has become less costly in time and resources to create or use. A realistic voice or video is not proof of identity. Apply existing approval controls to unusual requests involving payments, credentials, or sensitive data, even when the request appears to come from a familiar person.
Use a known contact method—such as a number already held in your records—to check the request rather than a phone number or link supplied in the message. For high-impact transactions, consider requiring a second authorized approver. This is a prudent business application of the impersonation risk, not a specific verification protocol prescribed by the FBI.
6. Exercise incident response and business continuity
CISA’s guidance for corporate leaders treats readiness as a leadership responsibility: senior leaders should take part in response exercises, set appropriately low thresholds for reporting suspicious activity, and identify and test continuity arrangements for critical business functions.
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Use an exercise to make practical decisions before a real incident:
- Who can declare an incident and decide whether to isolate a system?
- Who coordinates technical response and communicates with employees?
- Who determines whether banks, customers, regulators, or other parties need to be contacted?
- How will critical work continue if a system or site is unavailable?
Assign owners to actions that emerge from the exercise and test the continuity plan for a critical function, rather than treating a written plan as proof of readiness. Notification duties depend on jurisdiction and sector; get appropriate legal advice for your organization’s obligations.
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7. Put AI systems inside your security risk management
Security also means protecting AI and machine-learning systems your organization operates or relies on. The FBI notes that wider AI/ML adoption expands the attack surface and potential costs of a successful attack. NIST’s finalized 2025 adversarial machine-learning report describes attack categories including evasion and data poisoning, along with mitigation terminology. These are risks to assess, not evidence that every business faces the same exposure.
Inventory AI applications and services, what data they receive or produce, who can access them, and which suppliers or connected systems they depend on. Involve security owners when selecting, integrating, or materially changing a system. Ask suppliers how access and data are handled, and establish who is responsible for monitoring and responding to AI-related security concerns.
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NIST’s report provides a taxonomy and mitigation concepts; it does not make a voluntary framework a binding regulation. CISA’s 2025 AI cybersecurity collaboration playbook describes voluntary information sharing for AI-related incidents and vulnerabilities, which may be relevant when deciding how your organization will share or receive threat information.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to put the safeguards into motion
- Choose the highest-impact assets. Identify the accounts, services, data, and business functions that would matter most if disrupted or misused.
- Assign an owner to each safeguard. Give the owner authority to make changes, a way to escalate blockers, and a defined review responsibility.
- Start with exposure and recovery. Prioritize account protections, unnecessary exposed services, and backup restoration capability according to your risk and current gaps.
- Make human verification and reporting routine. Put the reporting route and independent checks into the workflows employees already use.
- Exercise and revise. Test response and continuity arrangements, then update controls when systems, suppliers, or business needs change.
Small and medium-sized organizations can use CISA’s small-business cyber resources to identify relevant foundational actions. Organizations without enough internal security capacity can seek qualified professional support, while keeping clear internal ownership of risk and business decisions.
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The official sources support two distinct concerns: criminals can use AI in fraud and malicious cyber activity, and AI/ML systems can themselves be attacked. They do not provide a current quantified estimate of how much AI increases ordinary business attack rates. The FBI summarizes the second concern this way: “As the public and private industry adoption of AI increases, the AI/ML attack surface will increase, along with the potential physical and economic costs of a successful attack.” That statement is from the FBI’s Artificial Intelligence resource.
The practical response is to strengthen controls that reduce common opportunities for compromise while assessing AI systems on their own merits. The seven safeguards are a starting structure; they should be adapted to the organization’s exposure, resources, and the impact of disruption.
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