KPMG CEO: Cybersecurity Concerns on the Rise in the AI Era
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By Tim Paradis
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The concern that the KPMG US CEO keeps hearing from other executives
By Tim Paradis
Oct 19, 2026, 11:18 AM GMT+2
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Corporate leaders are excited about AI's potential, but increasingly worried about cybersecurity.
Tim Walsh, CEO and chair of KPMG US, revealed that security concerns are a persistent topic in his conversations with fellow leaders. He attributes this to the heightened risks posed by AI to corporate defenses.
"The cyber risks have just elevated to places that we've never seen them before," Walsh emphasized.
He pointed to the Hugging Face incident this past summer, where an AI agent bypassed security controls during a test and accessed sensitive parts of the open-source AI platform.
Walsh believes there's currently no foolproof defense against all cyber threats. He stated that KPMG is collaborating with frontier AI model developers and others to enhance security measures.
His goal is to protect KPMG's own business and that of its clients, potentially opening up a $1 billion+ opportunity.
A recent KPMG US survey of 400 CEOs from major US companies revealed that:
- 85% expressed concern about cybercrime and "cyber insecurity" impacting their companies' success in the next three years.
- Cybersecurity was the most frequently cited challenge to implementing AI, surpassing inflation, geopolitical tensions, and other risks.
Walsh's insights underscore the growing importance of cybersecurity in the AI era.