TrendAI™ Research's investigation of ICS protocols near U.S. data centers uncovered thousands of vulnerable devices controlling critical cooling, power, and environmental infrastructure. These systems—designed for operational efficiency, not security—were accessible from the public internet.
This final installment of our trilogy on Pwning Agentic AI covers defenses against the return-to-tool (RTT) attacks—read-only Postgres bypass, support-ticket ransomware, and KYC passport exfiltration—demonstrated in Part II. Here we take a look at what works and what doesn’t against this new class of attack.
The supply and demand for insider threat actors have evolved from isolated opportunism into a structured, thriving criminal market, complete with brokers, recruiters, referral bonuses, guarantor services, and revenue-sharing arrangements. This research examines that market across different industries.
State-aligned threat actors are folding AI into every stage of the attack chain while hiding their infrastructure inside the services defenders already trust. This report unpacks the geopolitics driving the activity and what defenders should prioritize next.
TrendAI™ Research's investigation of ICS protocols near U.S. data centers uncovered thousands of vulnerable devices controlling critical cooling, power, and environmental infrastructure. These systems—designed for operational efficiency, not security—were accessible from the public internet.
This final installment of our trilogy on Pwning Agentic AI covers defenses against the return-to-tool (RTT) attacks—read-only Postgres bypass, support-ticket ransomware, and KYC passport exfiltration—demonstrated in Part II. Here we take a look at what works and what doesn’t against this new class of attack.
The supply and demand for insider threat actors have evolved from isolated opportunism into a structured, thriving criminal market, complete with brokers, recruiters, referral bonuses, guarantor services, and revenue-sharing arrangements. This research examines that market across different industries.
State-aligned threat actors are folding AI into every stage of the attack chain while hiding their infrastructure inside the services defenders already trust. This report unpacks the geopolitics driving the activity and what defenders should prioritize next.
CISA's BOD 26-04 and a new Five Eyes statement highlight the same urgent gaps in vulnerability management. Find out what these developments mean for your security program.
How agentic AI, nation-state actors, and cybercrime-as-a-service are outpacing financial sector defenses, and how defenders can respond at machine speed
AI agents have evolved from tools to autonomous participants in your organization, but governance has not kept pace. TrendAI™ proposes a six-pillar framework built to close that gap.
Governments around the world are committing billions to domestic AI development, but the race to create sovereign AI strategies has outpaced a clear understanding of what sovereignty actually requires. This research offers government and enterprise leaders a practical, layer-by-layer framework for determining how sovereign they need to be, and where it matters most.
As enterprises connect AI agents to cloud infrastructure and production workflows, the cloud-to-agent pipeline is becoming a primary attack surface. This article maps the risks for tech, media, and communications organizations and outlines detection and security best practices.
Return-to-tool isn't theoretical. TrendAI™ Research presents three cases showing exactly how a compromised agent—wielding only its own approved tools—becomes the most dangerous component in the stack.
August 8th, 2026 
43 min read
