The New Fog of War: Hidden Threats in an AI-Dominant World

Tuesday, August 11, 2026
9:35 AM - 10:10 AM
AI Risk Summit Strategy Track (Salon I)

About This Session

For most mature organizations, traditional security controls are no longer the hard part. Detection engineering, hardening, identity, cloud security, compliance, even many forms of threat hunting have become table stakes. But in an AI-dominant world, the most consequential threats increasingly emerge outside the boundaries those programs were designed to defend.

This keynote asks a more basic question: do you actually know your assets, your risks, and your boundaries? Trust underpins all three, yet most security programs still treat trust as static and well understood. AI increases speed, scale, and ambiguity, making it harder to continuously validate who belongs inside the organization, which outside relationships create exposure, and where the company’s real operational edges actually are. Most security programs are still control-led rather than threat-led: they begin with tools, telemetry, and detections instead of a clear understanding of how adversaries will exploit the seams between people, third parties, and institutional boundaries. Before you can detect or disrupt a threat, you have to know where it is most likely to form.

The central challenge for security leaders is no longer just building stronger controls. It is learning to see earlier, wider, and more clearly. This talk argues for a threat-led approach to security in which identification comes first: understanding how threat behavior is changing, where conventional programs have blind spots, and how to illuminate the hidden surfaces where the next generation of risk is already forming. In an environment shaped by AI, better security will belong to organizations that can turn threat identification into sharper judgment, faster orientation, and more decisive action before the fog closes in.

Speaker

Alex Levinson

Alex Levinson

CEO - 8oS Global

Alex Levinson is a preeminent authority in offensive security and red teaming, recently leading all Security efforts at Scale AI, one of the world's largest AI companies. Having served in pivotal roles across innovative tech firms and as a senior red team consultant at Lares, Levinson brings a wealth of hands-on experience. His contributions to open source security tools and his active engagement in security competitions such as the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition underscore his commitment to advancing the field. Levinson's unique blend of expertise positions him at the vanguard of the intersection between AI advancements and security challenges.