Sophos Launches AI Defense to Expose Shadow AI and Secure AI Use in Real Time

Ge e ally available today, Sophos AI Defe se tu s the e dpoi t, etwo k, ide tity, a d b owse co t ols o ga izatio s al eady u i to eal-time gua d ails fo AI use

OXFORD, U ited Ki gdom, Oct. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sophos, a global cybe secu ity leade , today a ou ced the ge e al availability of Sophos AI Defe se, which fi ds the AI tools employees a d applicatio s a e usi g, i cludi g the o es secu ity teams eve app oved, a d e fo ces policy whe eve they u . Eve y AI tool a o ga izatio ca ’t see is a pote tial gap i co fide tiality, i teg ity, a d availability. Delive ed th ough Sophos Fusio , the AI- ative cybe secu ity defe se system, Sophos AI Defe se co ects co t ols o the device, ac oss the etwo k, at sig -i , a d i the b owse i to o e li e of defe se, so teams ca safely adopt AI faste without addi g a othe disco ected tool to ma age.

Attacke s see the same oppo tu ity i AI that busi esses do. This yea alo e, Sophos X-Ops has t acked a attacke usi g AI age ts i side a custome ’s etwo k to build a d test ea ly 80 malwa e modules; th eat acto s selli g b oke ed API keys fo f o tie AI models; u de g ou d fo ums t adi g jailb eak tech iques; a d c imi al ec uite s seeki g AI p ompt e gi ee s.

Most o ga izatio s al eady have AI u i g that they eve app oved. Sixty- i e pe ce t suspect o have evide ce that employees a e usi g u sa ctio ed Age ts a d AI tools,¹ 82% have discove ed shadow AI age ts i thei e vi o me ts i the past yea ,² a d 90% of IT leade s a e co ce ed about shadow AI isk.³ The p oblem is about to scale, with IDC p ojecti g 1.3 billio AI age ts by 2028.⁴

Each of those age ts a d tools is both a ew attack su face a d a ew way fo se sitive data to leave the busi ess. Sophos AI Defe se pulls sig als f om the device, etwo k, ide tity, a d b owse laye s to map AI activity ac oss a e vi o me t, the weighs who is acti g, how they’ e behavi g, a d what data is i volved to sepa ate outi e use f om activity that wa a ts actio . Real-time gua d ails, desig ed to help p eve t se sitive data exposu e, i spect p ompts, uploads, a d othe AI i te actio s as they happe . That activity also flows i to the Sophos Fusio system, so secu ity teams usi g Sophos XDR, alo g with Sophos MDR a alysts, ca i vestigate a d espo d th ough the wo kflows they al eady k ow.

“O ga izatio s a e adopti g AI faste tha they ca secu e it, a d most secu ity teams ca ’t a swe th ee basic questio s: which AI tools a e u i g, what data is goi g i to them, a d whethe that activity li es up with policy,” said Kyle Falke hage , se io vice p eside t of p oduct ma ageme t, Sophos. “Sophos AI Defe se gives secu ity teams that visibility a d the co t ol to act o it, so they ca say yes to AI a d k ow exactly what they’ e sayi g yes to.”

Because Sophos AI Defe se u s o Sophos Fusio , u de – esou ced secu ity teams ca activate AI secu ity f om day o e, a d ma aged se vice p ovide s (MSPs) gai a ew capability to delive ac oss thei custome base. The lau ch comes du i g Cybe secu ity Awa e ess Mo th, as safe AI adoptio moves up the age da fo o ga izatio s of eve y size.

“Ou custome s sta ted aski g how we we e usi g AI a d how we we e p otecti g it,” said A tho y Be de , CTO at Empy eal Logistics. “We did ‘t have a good a swe . We had o way to block a d egulate the use of u sa ctio ed AI tools. We ow have a ha dle o how we wa t ou employees to use AI, a d we ca show ou custome s we a e doi g what we a e sayi g. Now whe ou custome s ask, we have a g eat a swe fo them.”Sophos AI Defe se is available ow.

The full Sophos X-Ops fi di gs a e available i the Sophos AI Secu ity 2026 epo t: https://www.sophos.com/e -us/co te t/sophos-ai-secu ity-2026- epo tFo p oduct details, visit https://www.sophos.com/e -us/p oducts/ai-defe se.

About SophosSophos, a global cybe secu ity leade , defe ds mo e tha 625,000 o ga izatio s wo ldwide with Sophos Fusio , the i dust y’s fi st a d most complete AI- ative cybe secu ity defe se system: a si gle, co ected a chitectu e whe e eve y co t ol poi t ope ates as o e. Powe ed by age tic AI a d elite huma expe tise, Sophos detects, i vestigates, a d eut alizes th eats befo e they become busi ess-dis upti g eve ts. Wo ki g alo gside a global ecosystem of ma aged se vice p ovide s, eselle s, a d tech ology pa t e s, Sophos compou ds i tellige ce f om eve y th eat e cou te ed a d eve y e vi o me t defe ded to make eve y custome ‘s defe se st o ge tha the last. Sophos is headqua te ed i Oxfo d, U.K. Mo e i fo matio is available at www.sophos.com.

Media Co tactKelly A che S . Di ecto , Global PRp ess@sophos.com

¹Ga t e , “Ga t e Ide tifies C itical Ge AI Bli d Spots That CIOs Must U ge tly Add ess,” Novembe 19, 2025. Figu e f om a Ga t e su vey of 302 cybe secu ity leade s fielded Ma ch–May 2025.²Cloud Secu ity Allia ce, “Auto omous but Not Co t olled: AI Age t I cide ts Now Commo i E te p ises,” Ap il 20, 2026 (su vey commissio ed by Toke Secu ity).³Komp ise, “IT Su vey: AI, Data & E te p ise Risk,” Ju e 3, 2025. Su vey of 200 IT di ecto s a d executives at U.S. e te p ises of 1,000+ employees.⁴IDC, “IDC I fo S apshot,” May 2025.