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Is Your Communications Team Ready For the Age of AI-Powered Cyber Threats?
October 2026
Samantha Siu, Associate Director
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a reminder for all of us to have a closer look at how risks associated with technological advances may impact us as technology users, as employees of organisations, and as communication professionals.
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) reshapes nations, industries and societies, there is an undercurrent of anxiety within the business community. Organisations need confidence in the technology solutions deployed to protect them from AI-related risks and AI-powered cyber threats, while employees, customers and investors need assurance that AI adoption is managed responsibly. Communicators have a direct role in earning that confidence.
As organisations adopt AI to improve productivity and decision-making, they must also manage its security risks. Cyber criminals can use the same technology to make deception more convincing, putting employees’ judgement and established verification processes under pressure. The urgency is evident in recent research. Cybersecurity company Group-IB’s Weaponised AI research describes a criminal marketplace selling AI-enabled impersonation, phishing and malware tools as accessible services. Meanwhile, Cisco’s 2025 Cybersecurity Readiness Index found that only 48% of surveyed leaders with cybersecurity responsibilities believed employees understood how malicious actors were using AI to enhance attacks
At Sandpiper, we work with both cybersecurity technology providers and organisations investing in AI, including financial services, healthcare and energy companies with much at stake in protecting sensitive information and maintaining essential services. Both technology vendors and users share a common communications priority: building trust with stakeholders to enable a secure, AI-powered future.
Making the case for stronger defence
For cybersecurity vendors, the task begins with explaining the threat in a way that’s meaningful to decision-makers. Threat intelligence needs context: who is being targeted, how attacks work and what disruption could mean for the business. Sometimes, one number is worth a thousand words. For example, Cisco’s research found that 86% of businesses globally reported at least one AI-related incident in the 12 months leading up to the study. Communicators should connect such findings to real-life scenarios and consequences to establish urgency.
Today, machine-scale defences are required to fight machine-scale threats. However, this also raises the question of whether AI-powered cybersecurity can be fully depended upon, and how it will impact the humans currently serving the security function. Communicators are therefore tasked with explaining how a solution helps security teams prioritise alerts, analyse intelligence or investigate incidents, then substantiate those benefits with evidence and clearly contextualised performance data.
Human expertise must remain central. AI can support overstretched security and IT teams, but its outputs still require human judgement, and consequential decisions need clear accountability. Communicators should explain where automation ends and human intervention begins.
Governance strengthens this proposition. Working with product, security and legal colleagues, communicators can explain how systems are tested and monitored, how sensitive data is handled and who oversees decisions. Being clear about AI guardrails gives customers a firmer basis for trust.
Turning policy into everyday practice
For organisations adopting AI, internal communications plays a practical role in shaping employee behaviour. Employees need to know how to recognise suspicious requests and report concerns.
Policies must also address shadow AI: tools used outside organisational approval and oversight. Clear guidance should identify approved tools, the information employees may enter, prohibited uses and how to request additional capabilities. Explaining why these policies are in place, and the business consequences of misuse, motivates users to abide by these rules.
Stringent policies work best when employees have accessible, approved alternatives and a straightforward route to advice. Communications teams should partner with IT, security, HR and legal to make guidance usable and reinforce it as tools evolve. Success should be assessed through behaviour, including timely reporting and consistent verification, alongside participation in training.
Building stakeholder confidence in AI adoption
As AI becomes a keystone of modern business strategy, customers, investors and partners need evidence that AI investment is accompanied by appropriate safeguards. Communicators can explain how use cases are assessed, how customer information is protected and where human oversight applies, without disclosing operational details that could aid threat actors.
Preparedness also shapes trust when something goes wrong. Communications teams should participate in incident response exercises on scenarios such as executive impersonation and compromised communication channels, and agree how stakeholders should be kept informed and supported should these incidents occur.
The communicator’s checklist in the age of AI-powered cyberthreats
Whether you’re working with a technology provider or an organisation navigating the impact of AI, the action list below may help you evaluate how well equipped you are to support your team as a communications professional:
- Maintain close relationships with security and technology teams to ensure that the communications function is informed about major tech decisions, risks and incidents.
- Stay informed about the development of AI and cybersecurity and be aware of hot-button issues by keeping track of the discourse around the topic.
- Get involved in AI governance frameworks to help review the sensitivity of AI-related policies.
- Set up a cyber incident response protocol and prepare templates for statements. Incidents can happen to any organisation and things move quickly.
- Make sure AI and cybersecurity are part of communications protocols and guidelines. For example, what should employees do if they encounter an attack? How should they act on social media to protect the organisation from threats?
Cybersecurity is everyone’s business. As communicators, our contribution is to make technical evidence understandable, translate policy into action, and ensure that stakeholders have the insights they need to make informed decisions that benefit and protect their organisations and themselves.
