Topic starter
21/08/2026 4:56 pm
TL;DR: Emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, cloud, blockchain and quantum computing expand the attack surface while also giving attackers new ways to bypass verification, exploit weak access controls and abuse misconfigurations, according to INTIGRITI. For identity and security teams, the key issue is not innovation itself but whether access, authentication and monitoring keep pace with new runtime risk.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by INTIGRITI: “The cyber threat landscape part 4: Emerging technologies and their security implications”.
Key questions
Q: How should security teams verify identity when AI-generated profiles look authentic?
A: Security teams should stop relying on visual realism or message quality as proof of identity.
Q: Why do unused cloud permissions create real security risk?
A: Unused permissions are still reachable paths if an attacker compromises the identity.
Q: What breaks when industrial IoT deployments do not use strong device identity and access controls?
A: When industrial IoT deployments lack strong device identity and access controls, organisations lose confidence in who or what is connected, which weakens monitoring and policy enforcement.
Practitioner guidance
- Harden verification for AI-facing processes Move executive approvals, account recovery and other high-trust workflows away from voice-only or video-only verification.
- Apply continuous cloud access reviews Recheck cloud permissions, third-party dependencies and API access on a recurring basis, with least privilege as the default.
- Segment and inventory IoT devices Place IoT devices in isolated network zones, require strong authentication, and track firmware and patch status as part of the asset lifecycle.
Bottom line: Emerging technologies create security exposure when innovation outpaces the controls that verify people, devices and services.
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21/08/2026 5:13 pm
Emerging technology risk is increasingly an access-governance problem, not just a tooling problem. The article shows that AI, cloud and IoT all introduce new ways for trust to be granted too easily or verified too weakly. The practical failure is often at the point where identities, devices or systems are first allowed into the environment, which means governance has to begin earlier than many security programmes assume. The practitioner conclusion is straightforward: verification must evolve as quickly as the technology surface does.
A question worth separating out:
Q: When should organisations start planning for quantum-related data exposure?
A: Before long-lived sensitive data is stored under encryption that may need to remain confidential for many years. The key decision is not when quantum computers become practical, but which data will still matter when they do, and whether retention, encryption and key management decisions already create future exposure.
👉 Read our full editorial: Emerging technologies widen attack surfaces across AI, cloud and IoT