About the research
In Q3 2025, theCube Research conducted a survey of 300 IT professionals in North America to explore views on AI infrastructure and data protection, specifically concerning tape technology. The majority of respondents, 75%, were from large enterprises with over 1,000 employees, while 25% were from midmarket companies with 100 to 999 employees. This diverse participant base provided insights into the needs of businesses of different sizes regarding AI and data management. The survey included multiple industry verticals, such as manufacturing, finance, technology, and construction/engineering, capturing a wide array of challenges and dynamics. All respondents were knowledgeable IT professionals involved with AI infrastructure and data protection, ensuring the findings were well-informed.
AI Data Is A Target For Cyber Attackers
The deployment of AI technologies is becoming increasingly common across various industries, with many businesses integrating them into their daily operations. However, despite the enthusiasm surrounding AI adoption, organizations face several challenges that hinder progress. High implementation costs, unclear returns on investment, and limited guidance from leadership contribute to significant doubt among IT leaders regarding the value of these efforts.
Unfortunately, as anticipated, cybercriminals are actively targeting AI deployments and often employing AI-enabled attack methods themselves. The emerging AI infrastructures being adopted by many organizations are already vulnerable to various attacks. Our research has identified data as the primary target for these threats. In fact, the top four vulnerabilities frequently highlighted by IT leaders relate to data. Although the types of attacks differ considerably, they underscore the importance of securing both the AI infrastructure and the data generated and utilized by AI processes.

Wrapping up
As cybercriminals increasingly target AI infrastructures, data security has emerged as a pressing concern, with data identified as a significant vulnerability. Alarmingly, most organizations are not adequately backing up AI-generated data, setting the stage for a perfect storm. This will be the focus of our next blog on this topic.
Stay tuned!

