[Digital Today reporter Hwang Chi-gyu (황치규)] Chief information security officers are emerging as key players not only in corporate security operations but also in executive decision-making as AI-based cyberattacks continue.

CNBC reported on Sept. 5 that companies are putting CISOs in charge of not only blocking external attacks but also controlling internal AI agents and managing data.

The report said interest in the CISO role appears to be growing further after an incident in July in which OpenAI autonomous agents hacked the open-source developer platform Hugging Face.

In the meantime, CISOs at major companies are complaining of a sharp rise in workloads stemming from the spread of AI, CNBC reported.

Wally Dalrymple (왈리 달림플), chief security officer at education and talent solutions company ETS, said, "It feels like my workload has doubled or quadrupled," adding, "Threats are coming in too fast and in high volume." John Scimone (존 시모네), a security executive at Dell Technologies, said, "The safe assumptions and variables we've relied on for decades are completely changing."

Paradoxically, the market for hiring CISOs with AI response capabilities is hot. Michael Piacente (마이클 피아첸테), co-founder of executive search firm Hitch Partners, said candidates who meet the requirements are easily receiving salary packages of more than $1 million.

Gartner said 2026 cybersecurity budgets are expected to rise 6 percent on new demand related to AI security and deployment. Joe Sullivan (조 설리번), former CISO at Uber and Facebook, said, "Some security teams are overwhelmed to the point they don't know where to start," adding, "Security products are also not ready for real-world use because the technology is so new."