A VentureBeat survey of 107 enterprises reveals that autonomous AI agents are proliferating far faster than the controls meant to contain them, with billions in crypto losses underscoring the stakes.
According to a new VentureBeat Pulse Research survey of 107 enterprises, more than half have already experienced an AI agent security incident or near-miss.
The June 2026 survey found that 54% of organizations with over 100 employees experienced a confirmed AI agent security incident or a near-miss.
The credential sharing problem is worse than you think #
69% of the enterprises surveyed admitted to sharing credentials across their AI agents. When agents share credentials, a single breach can cascade across systems. These are autonomous agents with real access to databases, financial systems, and operational infrastructure.
Only about a third of the surveyed organizations give each agent its own scoped identity. Meanwhile, just 30% of enterprises isolate their highest-risk AI agents.
Crypto is ground zero for AI agent exploits #
CertiK reported $1.32 billion in losses across 344 incidents in the first half of 2026, with AI agent-related exploits playing a growing role in that tally.
Blockchain environments, by design, execute transactions autonomously and irreversibly. Research from Anthropic has highlighted how rapidly AI agents are improving at spotting vulnerabilities in smart contracts. These agents can probe code, simulate attack vectors, and execute exploits at machine speed, all without human oversight.
A separate report from Gravitee’s State of AI Agent Security corroborated the VentureBeat findings, noting that 54% of organizations experienced incidents or suspected incidents with AI agents over the past year. The financial services industry fared slightly worse, clocking in at a 54.7% incidence rate.
The budget problem #
Most enterprises are allocating a minimal slice of their security budgets specifically to AI agent protections. Instead, they’re leaning on security tools provided by model providers and hyperscalers. Enterprises are essentially split down the middle on whether their defenses are keeping pace with AI-enabled attackers.
In the crypto space, Forta operates a decentralized bot network designed to monitor on-chain activity for anomalous behavior. When losses exceed a billion dollars in six months, the security infrastructure clearly isn’t scaling at the same pace as the threats.
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