Cisco Warns Middle East Businesses to Strengthen Security as AI Agents Adoption Accelerates

Cisco has warned organisations across the Middle East to strengthen security measures as adoption of AI agents accelerates across key sectors

According to Cisco’s latest AI Readiness Index, more than nine in ten organisations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are planning to deploy AI agents — autonomous systems capable of executing tasks, making decisions, and interacting with other digital tools with minimal human intervention. These technologies are increasingly being introduced across government services, finance, energy, and large enterprise environments.

As AI agents become more embedded in daily operations, Cisco cautions that they also introduce new security risks, particularly through the AI supply chain. Vulnerabilities may emerge from third-party models, open-source components, training data, and the way agents interact with applications and users. If compromised, these elements could expose organisations to data leakage, manipulation, or unauthorised system access.

To address these challenges, Cisco has expanded its AI Defense capabilities to provide visibility and protection across the full AI lifecycle. The solution is designed to help organisations identify supply-chain risks, detect threats targeting AI models, and safeguard AI agents operating in live environments.

Cisco says securing AI systems from development through deployment is becoming essential to maintaining trust, resilience, and operational continuity as autonomous technologies move from experimentation to large-scale production use across the region.