Published to Whisper Club: January 27, 2026 ID: TBW2095
Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Gal
Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Abstract:
This Whisper Report investigates how will drones change enterprise data strategy. It draws on insights gathered at the Commercial UAV Expo 2025 in Las Vegas, where UAV experts described the growing data volume, multi‑use potential, and rising compliance pressures shaping enterprise architectures. The report highlights strategic alignment, cross‑industry collaboration, and the challenge of converting drone data into actionable insights. It cites Barry Paul (Blue Nose Drones), Jason San Souci (Drone Ops USA), Kevin Teen (Aloft), Bill Reynolds (Central UAS Technologies), and Vik Chaudhry (Buzz Solutions).
This Whisper Report investigates the biggest packaging tech blind spot for CIOs. It draws on urgent insights gathered from Pack Expo Vegas 2025, where operations engineers and technology professionals shared firsthand perspectives. From overlooked IT involvement to cultural gaps with OT teams, the findings expose critical challenges in data use and collaboration. Discover why these blind spots persist—and what steps can transform them into competitive advantages. Featuring insights from Mike DeGrace (Universal Robots), Rich Parkhurst (KUKA), Aaron Silverberg (Flexible Vision), Chris King (Unitronics), Mike Wolf (Signode), and Brandon Winer (Cognex).
CES brought together over 148,000 attendees and 4100 exhibitors in Las Vegas. TBW Advisors LLC captured over 152 videos including 6 live streams spanning the event and locations. TBW Advisors also prepared twelve Whisper Reports for deeper analysis on emerging technologies from CES 2026. Press briefings revealed major trends, including AI adoption and global tech market projections for 2026. Captivating exhibits showcased robotics, smart home innovations, health tech, and cutting-edge enterprise solutions across multiple venues.
The Conference
A community of 148,000+ attendees gathered in Las Vegas across venues to attend CES 2026. Over 4100 exhibitors were featured.
Cautions
Just because something works and is convenient doesn’t mean your privacy is protected. In 2026, even paying for a product is no guarantee that you and your data are not also the product.
Friendly reminder: this research provides examples of what was shared with us at the event, not an evaluation, validation, or recommendation of the given technology.
Conference Vibe
After 152 videos including 6 live streams over 75 fact checks, our coverage of CES 2026 closes. CES 2026 featured over 148k+ attendees including 6900 media, and 4100 exhibitors. Registration and badge pick up occurs across all of Las Vegas from the airport to all of the hotels. Likewise, CES spans all of Las Vegas. Mandalay Bay hosts the press events on Sunday and Monday. Unveiled is also held at Mandalay Bay at the end of Sunday. Aria host media innovations much like what is shared at the NAB Show here in Las Vegas every spring.
Venetian is home to Eureka Park downstairs. Eureka park features country pavilions so one can metaphorically travel around the world to see how tech is advancing globally. The second floor at the Venetian hosts many sessions and vendor suites. Venetian Expo Hall hosts Health and lifestyle; enjoy our walkabout. Additional coverage on Health tech can be found in our coverage of HIMSS 25 and upcoming coverage in 2026. Each location also hosts its own eateries with the Venetian featuring the Cafe and the Bistro.
The newly finished Las Vegas Convention Center was absolutely shining for CES 2026. Everything BUT south Upper was leveraged for the event. West Hall featured auto and EVTOLs (electric vertical take of and landing) and related suppliers. West Hall also features it own extensive eatery. One can walk from West Hall to North or take the Vegas Loop ride to Central or South Halls. North Las Vegas Convention Center was also known as Robot Hall with enterprise AI in abundance. North Hall also featured its own in hall eatery. Outside of North Hall enroute to Central Hall there is another massive food court. Central Hall itself hosted smart tech and a lot of the major brands you recognize at home. Now that construction has completed, one can walk from Central Hall to South Hall indoors! Design and source exhibitors were featured at South Hall which also had its very own eatery.
We always try to bring you fresh vendors in our coverage. That said, you will recognize many brands in the walkabout from our coverage of CES 2025, CES 2024, or even CES 2020. In fact, we spotted vendors from every nearly every event we covered in Vegas during 2025.
We once again live streamed from on site. We successfully livestreamed on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Specifically, I requested assistance on your favorite videos for my two segments on the January 10, 2026 syndicated broadcast edition of Computer Talk Radio. Note we also discussed CES prepping on December 27, 2025, with additional coverage of CES during the January 17, 2026 edition.
While on site, we conducted research for twelve additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available with the video version to be distributed first via YouTube Whisper Club upper tier membership area on our YouTube Channel.
Readers and viewers wishing to experience or should we say re-experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: CES 2026 Playlist in its entirety. The playlist will be sited in the end screen, description, and as a pinned comment of the video edition. The video edition will conclude with gratitude towards those that contributed. Specifically, a montage of responses to the Bonus Question, “What’s the best part about attending the CES 2026 live in Las Vegas?”.
At CES, Press coverage starts two days earlier than CES itself. Commencing on Sunday, we frequently begin coverage at Jetro’s Launch It run by Showstoppers. The event kicked-off with a welcome from its leader Mia Kwanda. Each presenter has 5 minutes to present to the press and investors and make their impression. The session featured Swipe, a technology to embed videos that enables viewers to select any of 360 degrees to watch the event. Perhaps seeing everything from any angle is just not enough particularly when it comes to your favorite Anime. Perhaps you wish you could virtually give your favorite character a hug? Then Gakugeki out of Japan just made your dreams come true! Expect to see the tech at your favorite theme park next summer! While greetings your favorite character may send you to the moon with joy, some companies find they want to test in microgravity. The challenge is the wait for time and expense for the ISS Space station for testing. Alternatively, one can get 45 seconds of microgravity from a Jet but that time is just too sparse for any real testing. Meet Innovative Space Carrier ready to provide affordable, autonomous, microgravity laboratories to meet your needs.
Coming back down to earth, maybe you just want an avatar BUT don’t want to spend hours creating one? Pocket RD presented their quick avatars solution ready to deliver in minutes. Just needing some privacy? Maybe so you can hold a sensitive topic meeting despite crowded shared office space? Verne Technologies believes they have the solution that will take off in their auditor privacy providing device. Office not crowded yet as you still need to hire workers but are afraid of AI cheating during the process? AI Proctor is designed to spot and stop cheating during interviews or exams. Not worried about cheating but want a co-pilot to assist in your k-12 workday – even if you are a counsellor? Wiillow may be just what you were looking for. Want to leverage your 3d printer to realize your design idea but can’t get from English to Parts to print? Great news, tokoshie had you in mind when they created their product.
After Jetro, CTA, the organization that runs CES, provides a massive press briefing on the state of the industry and the most recent data. The CTA Tech Trends video is a frequently high-flyers on our channel. Major takeaways include that the global tech and durables market is projected to reach 1.3 trillion US dollars by end of 2026. The US Consumer tech industry revenue is projected to reach 565 billion US dollars in 2026. Finally, awareness of AI exceeded 90% in European, Korean and US markets and more than 40% of people in every country used AI at work. US led the way with 63% of workers leveraging AI estimating 8.7 hours a week saved. If you have not yet enjoyed it – you will want to create a time block to watch CTA Tech Trends 2026.
Monday is another full press day. We stuck to the niche Power Sessions run by Show Stoppers, enabling us to bring you content not found anywhere else. The first session was a rather clever approach to quality control in manufacturing. Specializing in those areas still left to manual inspection due a combination of materials used and shading, Bucket Robotics goes straight from the CAD file’s .step file to quality control. No massive image capture and loading and training. Simply one machine file talking to another application. Bucket Robotics solution itself evaluates the CAD file and can accurately infer what parts match the computer design. It’s as if providing the .step file is a short cut to human intuition, or should we say in providing machine intuition?
The next session asked the question Apple doesn’t want anyone asking. “What if Siri actually worked?” Once the laughter calmed down and all witnessed the demo. We all realized we can once again refer to the phones as smart – as long as they are running AGI.inc’s software! This really is a must see, must experience solution. It was very indicative of what was to come. The realization of what intelligence in our life should and could be like to empower us to spend more time doing human things.
CES has always featured consumer technologies AND the technologies required to realize them including components and manufacturing. While the consumer face tag has officially left the event, the focus remains. With all this intelligence, Industry 5.0 is rushing into realization offering full automation including integrated quality control. To this end, Power Sessions welcomed SRK Techtronics. Born out of expertise in the detailed work of diamond cutting, SRK is a new player that expects to make a huge splash in EMS. It is helpful to note that motorcycles are called tubulars in India while listening to their session. More on their booth tour later.
Whether your facility is for manufacturing or a data center, energy is a common problem for industrial buildings. Stryten Energy is American-built and focused with 11 facilities across the US. Their lead batteries are built with a whopping 95% or more of materials from their previous recycled batteries. In addition, Stryten Energy deploys systems in lithium and vanadium chemistries depending on what your application requires.
Our final press briefing session was hosted by the National Sleep Foundation. After NSF provided a sleep data update, Smart Buds shared their brain-responsive ear buds. Unlike most earbuds that just play audio, these are also packed with three sensors. These sensors enable them to act like an EEG to pick up brain waves required to assist with sleeping. Specifically, they can enhance slow brain waves to maintain a deep sleep longer. Frenz Brainband by Earable Neuroscience is another EEG device was the first EEG wearable that won 3 CES Innovation Awards in a row 2023-2025. It is a band around the front of the head to provide accurate sleep tracking. It has been clinically proven to help you get to sleep faster. Finally, Tonino Lamborghini introduced the launch of her Super Brain product that is a collaboration between Tonino Lamborghini and Frenz for the ultimate sleep and focus device.
With the press days behind us and the show floor officially open, we now turn our attention to the exhibits. Exhibits is where the concepts introduced during briefings come to life in tangible innovations and booth experiences. Our first stop was Unveiled, the exclusive press event that kicks off CES and previews some of the most innovative technologies before the main halls open. Unveiled is a microcosm of CES generally highlighting some of the most innovative and must-see technologies. Once again, we would like to remind you to watch our previous coverage as we rarely cover a technology twice. One top 10 captured technology from last year we did visit was to capture more details including getting an update. Last year we captured the ultimate Chess Rival in Sense Robot’s automated chess game. This year Sense Robot also featured miniature chess boards and a Go board!
Unveiled set the tone for CES with a strong emphasis on innovation, and nowhere was that more evident than in robotics and physical AI. As one might expect, robots were quite popular this year at CES or should we say Physical AI. Yes physical AI is the new marketing term in 2026 as agentic AI pushes the look and feel of robots further forward. X-Origin likes to describe their offerings as Chat GPT in a device realized. On the industrial side, Widemount Dynamics Limited shared their firefighting robot. Despite the harsh temperature, low visibility and unpredictable nature of a fire, they manged to succeed in overcoming these challenges to provide a life saving robot. Additional challenges in creating robots can be the lack of a common operational control layer. Scanbotics declared they solved that problem with their brain control platform for robotics. Is model drift while operationalizing AI your major challenge? You’ll want to explore Memorence AI who aims to bridge that gap for your intelligent solutions. Additional challenges in AI, particularly edge AI is that of communication. Seeking edge connectivity for your IoT (Internet of Things) device? RiseLink would like to speak with you about their solution. Medical insoles with 6 sensors including motion sensors built in were found at the Orphie, Inc. booth. Elite athlete trying to get more data not from your motion but from your sweat? Point Fit has a human applied sweat sensor and related solution ready to provide you more insights than you thought possible. If you find yourself in need of high-speed data transfer rates, enhanced video capabilities and improved power delivery, Hyper showed off their new enclosure. Enjoy their overview of the HyperDrive Next USB4 M.2 PCIe Enclosure. Mechanical keyboard your must have list? EPOMaker shared their much in demand wares. Seeking custom microphones so you come off like a pro during your next podcast? Rode Microphones LLC has an entire portfolio sure to meet your needs. Finally, need the absolute perfect bag to carry everything in? Want your laptop to be truly protected and have an easy time at airports? Targus was thinking of you with their latest announced product.
From Unveiled, we continue our journey to the Venetian Expo exhibitions. If you found yourself smiling your way through CES, you may just want to stop by Dentomi to ensure you keep that great smile. Bringing a dentist to your phone, Dentomi enables one to leverage a cell phone to check on your gum health. Interested more in spoiling your pets? Perhaps you have a cat that just loves wet food but you find it inconvenient when you go out of town at attend CES? Petkit has you covered with some very intriguing brand-new products. Do you find yourself getting lost and looking for information booths often? This hybrid AI avitar customer support solution by Avita comes straight out of Japan with you in mind.
If you are more interested in building your own products and seeking components CES was there for you as well. If you are motor vehicle manufacturer and are seeking a navigation system, Mapbox can help you get around. Furthermore, if your vehicle is fully automated, the additional information may just provide the added context to ensure passengers feel safe. Seeking to add on a haptic interface to your solution? Haply shared their affordable, portable, flexible haptic solution with all! For organizations seeking software in the loop digital twin solution, dSPACE offers a compelling solution so you can get to market with confidence.
In business, one not only seeks technology advantages but financial advantages when you can find them. To that end, the Kyrgyz Republic was happy to make their presence known. While the country may be small, it packs quite the punch with its legal tax breaks for tech firms and a large base of talent. On site, their Republic’s booth featured .beam who, as outsources, specialize in automation to meet your every needs. A realistic speech tech by NineNineSix.ai was also featured in their country’s booth, albeit they are now based in San Francisco.
We will now move over to the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). The LVCC is the largest and most dynamic hub of CES. This is where scale meets diversity, with robotics, automation, enterprise solutions, and cutting-edge components all under one roof. One of the best parts of CES is you can see the long-established companies and new to the market side by side. Part of Merck KGaA, the main parent of the Merck Group, EMD electronics has been going strong 350 years. They believe the key to their success is the 10% tithing of revenue back into R&D and where there to show you their innovations. On the other end we have the new kids on the block for EMS manufacturing with success in hand. Expanding on the press briefing, we visited SRK Techtronics for a booth tour. They shared how they brought the ‘tubular’ product (motorcycle) dream to market while realizing Industry 5.0. Furthermore, if you are seeking an EMS manufacturer, SRK Techtronics deserves a spot on your shortlist. Have an established factory but still have portions that rely on human quality control? Are your materials plastic or metal and prone to shadowing? Bucket Robotics, may be just the vendor you have been seeking. If railway innovation is what you are seeking, Israel Railway was seeking to meet you with their extensive collection of related innovations!
Power is always a great topic at CES. One great solution makes those two unexpected statements true. First, crypto mining is now possible without a separate power source. Second, in 2026, you can now turn hot water heaters into revenue! That’s correct, a water heater that crypto mines is now on the market by Superheat! Got a solar system but need better battery solution? Maybe a portable battery solution you can use away from the building with the solar system? Meet Jackery, an extendable, portable battery back up solution you may have just been looking for! Maybe you don’t need quite that much power but you want an environmental friendly power solution. Meet Flint – one of the stars of our 2025 coverage sharing the secret of their battery’s green footprint. If your requirement is ethanol but you don’t know how to create it out of thin air – meet ANA Carbasia. Yes many things are now possible in 2026.
Unlike many years, much of the technology shared applies to multiple aspects of one’s life and to different parts of the industry. For example, meet Perfect Corp. Their technology is as applicable at a doctors office as it is to providing fashion and make up advice – all in one product and one set of APIs. Speaking of the doctors office, Abbot is always striving to provide patients with more information and more insights to enable all to live life to its fullest. Seeking to enjoy life and get a flashback to the good old days of early gaming? My Arcade has a closed gaming system for retro arcade games. Their products allow one to reexperience the best from the early days of gaming including an Atari, Bandai Namco, Capcom and Sega. Not into gaming but you do want a great keyboard. Maybe you were dreaming of a carbon fiber keyboard and mouse? Announcing Dareu, top Asia market keyboard is now officially in the US.
Last but not least, for those of you who really appreciate beautiful screens. Perhaps you are waiting for all of these technologies to come together and enable the life we always heard technology would provide? Enjoy the LG Booth Tour. We once again captured their ultra-thin screens that were on full display. In addition, we received a deep dive into the LG Signature Fridge as an example of an intelligent screen endpoint. Albeit the tech from the auto sector that allows one to open the refrigerator’s door with one’s foot was also quite exciting and much needed innovation!
CES will once again return to Las Vegas for CES 2027 to take place January 6-9, 2027.
*When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.
Whisper Report:Can AI defend against AI-powered attacks?
Published to insiders: January 13, 2026 ID: TBW2091
Published to Whisper Club: January 14, 2026
Published to Email Whispers: April 20, 2026
Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Abstract
“This Whisper Report explores the evolving cybersecurity landscape where AI defends against AI-powered attacks. Drawing insights from Black Hat USA 2025, it outlines four foundational dimensions of AI defense—from scaling and automation to ethical oversight and model diversity—within the context of an escalating AI vs AI arms race. The report emphasizes strategic adaptation, human involvement, and the limitations of current technologies in this rapidly advancing domain. The analysis incorporates perspectives from leading experts and organizations featured at Black Hat USA 2025, including Elastic Security’s James Spiteri, Safe Security’s Saket Bajoria, Cymulate’s Avihai Ben Yossef, Exaforce’s Ariful Huz, Dune Security’s David DellaPelle, Netarx’s Sandy Kronenberg, Cyber Innovate’s Brian Mehlman, Checkmarx’s Jonathan Rende, and Microsoft’s Thomas Roccia.”
Target Audience Titles:
Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Digital Officer, Chief Information Officer
Chief Product Officer, Chief Experience Officer
IAM engineers, Security Architects, DevSecOps Engineers, IT Ops Managers, Application Security Architects, AI security specialists, Cyber Risk analysis
Key Takeaways
AI vs AI defines today’s threat landscape, requiring defenders to match attacker sophistication.
Attack volume and complexity are rising, demanding scalable, automated responses.
Multiple AI models are essential, as no single model can cover all threats.
Human oversight is vital, ensuring ethical use and contextual accuracy.
AI boosts efficiency, freeing experts from repetitive tasks.
Limitations remain, and defences must evolve with emerging threats.
We took the most frequently asked and most urgent technology questions straight to the Cybersecurity professionals gathering at Black Hat USA 2025 held in Las Vegas. This Whisper Report addresses the question if AI can defend against AI-powered attacks?
In the event it is not obvious yet, one must understand that the new battlefield in cybersecurity is AI vs AI. As Elastic Security’s James Spiteri shared, “I absolutely think AI can fight AI. We’re seeing this today. Uh there’s been a lot of investment in both AI offensive techniques as well as AI defensive techniques. You know, we’re on the defensive side of the house. So we’ve done a ton of research into how effective it actually is and it doesn’t work.” Safe Security’s Saket Bajoria couldn’t agree more. “The only way to combat that is through AI and the attacks is going to be between AI and AI. Humans are just going to be watching it right. So, so the sooner we accept the fact that it’s AI against AI and we do we do watch it ethically and all that like we are ready for that otherwise the more we deny that the more we’ll get impacted.” Or to quote a very famous Classic sci-fi superintelligence named the Borg, “resistance is futile.” Then again, its just an evolution of the traditional cat and mouse game within cybersecurity. As Cymulate’s Avihai Ben Yossef maintained, “I think AI powered attacks can also be protected by AI and vice versa. I think AI powered defense can also not be protected by AI powered attacks. It’s still an ongoing chase that will happen with AI. It happened before AI. It’s going to happen now with AI. The ongoing chase will keep on happening even in the AI world.”
Considering AI will be a required part of the solution for the AI vs AI battle, it is valuable to consider how AI will be leveraged. Exaforce’s Ariful Huz affirmed, “AI can help defend against AI based attacks because mostly from the volume of attacks that we’re going to start seeing because people are going to be leveraging AI to do all kinds of things and the barrier to entry to actually performing these types of attacks is going to be much lower. So you’re going to see a larger volume and that means you need a way you need machines to be able to detect, investigate and respond to these types of attacks because humans are not going to be able to keep up with them.” Coming from a similar angle, Dune Security’s David DellaPelle elaborated, “I think when you think about AI, there’s kind of two elements. There’s the quantity of attack and the quality of attack lead to to breach, right? It’s incredibly important for security companies and security organizations to have really foundational AI models that can help meet the scale right the increased quantity of attacks that are coming from AP groups like scattered spider as well as the quality of attacks.”
Understanding it will ultimately a battle of AI vs AI and AI is necessary to handle the quality and quantity of attacks, it is valuable to understand you will be leveraging multiple models. For anyone who has created AI products, this is common knowledge. The expression is any given model may fail but the product or the solution cannot. Netarx’s Sandy Kronenberg dove into this critical aspect. “AI can defend against AI attacks, but only if we’re using a multitude of AI inference models from many many different sources with which to defend against AI attacks. Social engineering that’s AI powered fraud as an example can only be defeated if you’re using inference models from every single source of metadata and or voice and video inference models. It’s a hard way to it’s very complicated.”
One always present question when it comes to AI is the line between automation – particularly with agents – and maintaining the human in the loop. Cyber Innovate’s Brain Mehlman and his AI Agent Ralph raises one very valuable question, “What is the AI powered attack? Am I doing AI where I’m actually poking into a system brute force or is actually an AI in the system doing something rogue?” Regardless of the scenario, Brain and his AI Agent Ralph went on further to explain, “You still need human oversight. You still need to understand the context. And you have to remember that an AI defending system can have its own blind spots and yes, AI can be a powerful tool for defense, but it’s part of a bigger strategy and it’s all about using it wisely and understanding that it’s a constantly evolving game.” This was best summarized by Microsoft’s Thomas Roccia, “there is no silver bullet. It’s all about building the right AI system to assist you. you and make sure that the result of an AI is accurate enough for your investigation.” In addition to accurate, we will also hope the AI solution is transparent enough that it obtains and maintains trust amongst its human users.
As discussed many times during our coverage of the media industry, AI has two strengths. It eliminates tedious and mundane tasks from humans and allows them to focus on the other parts. Same can be said for AI in cybersecurity. As Checkmarx’s Jonathan Rende observed, “eliminating mundane toil like repetitive error prone human tasks that we can just take away and allow the experts with their hand on the wheel to actually better use their time in more valuable activities.” Of course this automation doesn’t just benefit the White Hats or those trying to defend people and organizations. Jonathan went on to further explain, “ AI raises the bar both for attackers, but it raises the bar for defenders as well. So, both have to make use of this.”
Cyber Innovate’s Brain Mehlman and his AI Agent summed it up. “So from our perspective, the short answer is yes. AI can defend against AI powered attacks, but with some caveats. Essentially, it’s a kind of arms race. The same technology that can be used to launch AI driven attacks can also be used to build defenses. So we’re seeing AI being used to detect patterns, to automate responses, and to kind of keep up with the speed and scale of AI driven threats. But the nuance here is that it’s not a silver bullet. It’s not like you can just drop in AI and it will perfectly defend against everything.” As Microsoft’s Thomas Roccia reminded us all, it is an evolving landscape. “We are probably not there yet. I think we are started to see some interesting attack with AI such as malware which will embed some LLM prompt and some automatic generation of command inside the bridge the infected machines. I think it’s still the beginning.” And so the game of cat and moues of cybersecurity continues now including AI vs AI.
“This Whisper Report investigates the next data breach our industry isn’t ready to handle. It captures urgent insights from Put Data First revealing how emerging threats are reshaping risk landscapes. These include AI pipeline compromises, indirect prompt injections, company chat exfiltration, and deep fake-driven social engineering. Expert perspectives explain why traditional defenses fail. The report urges proactive strategies to secure data integrity across every stage of AI-driven operations before vulnerabilities escalate.”
Target Audience Titles:
Chief Executive Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Data Officer, Chief Security Officer, Head of Data Strategy, Head of Information Security
Director of Cybersecurity, Director of AI Operations, Director of Risk Management, Director Data Governance Manager, Enterprise Architect
Data Scientist, Machine Learning Engineer, Cybersecurity Analyst, AI Operations Specialist, Risk Analyst, Cloud Security Engineer, Threat Intelligence Analyst
Key Takeaways:
AI pipelines are vulnerable at every stage, requiring continuous protection of training data and outputs.
Indirect prompt injections can manipulate AI agents through unvalidated web content, creating hidden security risks.
Company AI chat data is a high-value target for exfiltration, exposing sensitive organizational insights.
Deep fakes amplify social engineering attacks, eroding trust and enabling data breaches through deception.
We took the most frequently asked and most urgent technology questions straight to the data and AI experts gathering at the Put Data First’s Inaugural event held at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. This Whisper Report addresses the question regarding the biggest AI risk no one in your organization is talking about as depicted in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Prepare NOW for these Four Data Breaches
Our first area to defend, was suggested by SafeBreach’s Hudney Piquant. “The AI pipeline I like to call it. It’s the pipeline of the data that you are the training data that you have and then your prompting that you’re doing and then the output like those three things I believe that that’s going to be the biggest breach that the adversaries will be looking at because if you’re able to really manipulate those things it’s going to affect the pipeline from a scalability perspective.” Hudney raises an important point that data needs to be always protected, every step of the way on its journey. For more research on how to protect data during execution see Industry Whispers: Public is Private -Confidential Computing in the Cloud.
The next attack vector, brought by Mend.io’s Amit Chita, is subtle and exploits GenAI. “Indirect prompt injections. All the web contains websites. We take AI agents, we connect them to get information from these websites, but we don’t validate that it that this website doesn’t contain prompt injections within them. and they can manipulate our agents as they surf through the web. I think this is going to be one of the major issues that we’re going to deal with in the next coming weeks.” One may want to be careful where you let your agents roam!
Our third attack vector is an insider and SaaS risk with significant exposure potential, highlighted by AnswerRocket’s Shanti Greene. “Exfiltrating company AI chats. So, the organizers like Open AI have done a good job of giving you a sandbox for your company to work within and they’re not training on your data. But being able to exfiltrate a company’s specific use and see what they’re prompting with could be interesting. There’s probably some interesting gold in that data.”
Our final area of concern may not be a direct data breach but rather is a tool frequently leveraged to breach data and trust and is brought to us by The Agentic Manager’s Neil W. Smith. “The implications of deep fakes. We’re already used to AI being used for fishing expeditions, for extracting information from our databases. But what we don’t realize as humans is that we trust other humans to play by the rules more often than not. However, with deep fakes, both voice fakes, visual fakes, and context fakes, I think more and more humans are going to be fooled by the efficacy of deep fakes.” And the more humans that are fooled, the more systems can be compromised. Despite how widely discussed this topic is, deep fakes remain underestimated for their use in fraud and as a social engineering threat.
Published to clients: December 30, 2025 ID: TBW2114
Published to Readers: December 31, 2025
Whisper Email Release:
Public/Video Release:
Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Abstract
“This Whisper Report investigates the biggest supply chain risk CIOs ignore. It captures urgent insights from Retail, Supply Chain, and Logistics Expo revealing how external shocks, demand disconnects, and fragmented systems quietly erode resilience. Industry leaders share candid perspectives on tariffs, inventory pitfalls, and costly tech missteps—issues that can derail growth overnight. If you think your supply chain strategy is future-proof, this report may challenge everything you assume about stability.”
Published to clients: December 23 2025 ID: TBW2128
Published to Readers: December 24, 2025
Whisper Email Release: February 9, 2026
Public Editions: February 12, 2026
Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Abstract
“Aftermarket innovation in 2026 faces three critical blind spots: workforce training lagging behind rapid tech adoption, supply chain visibility gaps impacting profitability, and misinterpretation of EV battery health undermining consumer trust. These challenges, identified through expert insights at AAPEX and SEMA 2025, demand proactive strategies to ensure sustainable growth and competitiveness in an evolving automotive landscape.”
We took the most frequently asked and most urgent technology questions straight to the experts from the automotive sector gathering at the Venetian Convention Center AND Caesars Forum AND the Las Vegas Convention Center for AAPEX & SEMA 2025. This Whisper Report addresses the question regarding what tech blind spot will stall aftermarket innovation in 2026 as depicted in Figure 1.
New innovation is great but only if you know how to use and apply it. The first challenge isn’t as much as the tech as the ability for the employees in the organizations to use the tech as shared by Texa’s Fabio Mazzon. “Up to speed with new technology and be try to be trained as much as possible and follow everything that is new in the automotive world.” Sometimes, the technology changes come faster than the teams are ready for. Keeping up to date with the current speed of innovation is a common challenge of many today. Be sure to schedule your inquiry with your TBW Advisors LLC’s analyst to ensure your roadmap is futureproofed and ready for all the new innovations coming your way. For additional research on training technologies available see Conference Whispers: HR Tech 2025.
One of the biggest challenges for those in the aftermarket industry is simply staying profitable with the greatest challenge being the supply chain. The tariffs alone have thrown global supply chain into a new environment. As Lynnco’s Andrew Yokiel emphasized, “Supply chain. Having greater data and visibility into everything from small parcel down to up to full truckload, LTL, and getting your product to your customers faster and having an idea where it is in the marketplace and having cleaner data to make business decisions to be profitable.” Profitability, much like having customers, is truly a key ingredient to staying in business.
In order for the used and aftermarket to flourish, the value of those components or in adding those components should be commonly agreed upon and understood. Unfortunately, this is a challenge particularly in the EV market as Midtronics’ Lance Losinski emphasized. “Consumer understanding and credibility of the value say the health of a battery pack. That drives the market prices down because the understanding versus mileage on a gas car versus what’s the state of health battery and how long is it going to last and how do you repair these things, creates the biggest gap for a consumer to be able to trust and utilize the vehicle despite having lower service costs long term and things like that. I think that’ll be the biggest blocker in the near term.”
Published to clients: December 16, 2025 ID: TBW2118
Published to Readers: December 17, 2025
Whisper Email Release: TBD
Public and Video Release: TBD
Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Abstract
“This Whisper Report investigates the biggest fintech risk CIOs are underestimating. It captures urgent insights from Money 20/20 USA 2025, revealing why incremental improvements won’t protect enterprises from disruption. From rapid shifts in payment models to vendor lock-in, integration hurdles, and data complexity that derails AI ambitions—these risks demand immediate attention. Future-proofing architecture and optimizing data fabric are no longer optional. Read on to uncover strategies that redefine resilience before the next wave hits.”
Published to Readers: December 10, 2025 ID: TBW2110
Whisper Club Release: December 10, 2025
Public and Video Release: February 24, 2026
Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Abstract
“This Whisper Report investigates the biggest 5G myth tech leaders still believe. Insights from MWC Las Vegas reveal why common assumptions—like 5G being only about bandwidth, too costly, or reserved for telecom giants—are wrong. These misconceptions can stall innovation and strategy. Explore how 5G is enterprise-ready, cost-effective, and far more transformative than most expect. If your roadmap relies on outdated beliefs, this report will challenge and reshape your perspective.”
Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Chief Digital Officer (CDO), VP of Network Engineering, VP of IT Infrastructure, Head of Enterprise Architecture, Director of Mobility & Wireless Strategy
Enterprise Network Architect, Wireless Systems Engineer, IT Infrastructure Engineer, Mobility Solutions Specialist, Telecom Integration Engineer, Cloud & Edge Computing Engineer
Key Takeaways
5G delivers far more than bandwidth—it enables future-proofing and advanced capabilities critical for enterprise innovation.
Private 5G is cost-effective, often cheaper than traditional wireless, and offers unique advantages over Wi-Fi.
5G is enterprise-ready today, with deployment and management as simple as traditional IT networks
We took the most frequently asked and most urgent technology questions straight to the mobility and wireless experts gathering at the MWC Las Vegas held at the Fontainebleau. This Whisper Report addresses the question regarding the biggest 5G myth tech leaders still believe as depicted in Figure 1.
Our first myth comes from GetWireless’ Kalpit Kadia, “5G is more like a throughput requirement than future proofing.” If you believe the only thing 5g brings to the table is bandwidth you are missing it. Kalpit continued. “So it’s not all about through requirement. It’s you know also to do with future proofing your product because as network infrastructure is changing by different carriers, it’s a good idea to move to a 5g stack technology which is going to be here around here for a long time.” Remember when you enable 5g in our organization you empowered it with more than just bandwidth, you enabled all the capabilities that come with 5g beyond the bandwidth.
The next myth is a critical one particular for those building out wireless infrastructure in public spaces. Baicells’ Minchul Ho argued that the biggest myth is, “the cost or differentiation from Wi-Fi.” Minchul elaborated further. “There’s a huge upside to 5G that you cannot get with any other wireless technologies at about the same price if not half the cost of what traditional wireless system would take.” If you are working on your business justification for 5g expansion in your organization, be sure to schedule an inquiry with your analyst at TBW Advisors LLC. We can review not only your strategy and roadmap, but help ensure the major use cases in your organization have been captured to ensure maximum business impact.
Perhaps the biggest myth of all is brought to us by Canoga Perkins’ Siddharth Khattar. “That private 5G is still seen by many as a telecom only technology. Something that is hard to roll out, something that is hard to administer across your enterprise networks and comes with enterprise environments and therefore comes with a lot of expense and it’s always a technology for somebody else.” The reality is 5g is enterprise ready and is not just for telecoms for tech giants. Even more important is the easy of deployment and management as Siddharth explains further. “What we are doing the truth is that today’s private 5G networks can be administered and managed much more like IT and enterprise that people that CIOS and organizations are used to doing. Be able to administer and manage that as easily as you would a as easily as you would your traditional IT networks today with so much more functionality than what they deliver today.”
In conclusion, 5g is about so much more than the bandwidth, is cost effective, and is ready today for you to deploy in your organization.
oin us for “AI in Medicine: Promise or Peril?”—a candid discussion with leading experts on how artificial intelligence is reshaping healthcare. From groundbreaking diagnostic tools to ethical dilemmas and patient safety concerns, we’ll explore whether AI is the ultimate game-changer or a ticking time bomb. Gain insights into what’s real, what’s hype, and what’s next for medical innovation. Don’t miss this chance to separate fact from fiction and prepare for the future of healthcare.
Research Code: TBW2129
Cannot make it live? Register and submit your question. The answer will be in the video on TBW Advisors’ YouTube Channel.
NO AI note takers allowed. Event copyrighted by TBW Advisors LLC All Rights Reserved.
BIOS
Doreen Galli, PhD MBA
Doreen Galli, PhD MBA is the Chief of Research at TBW Advisors LLC and regular contributor to Computer Talk Radio. She’s led significant and measurable changes as an executive at IBM, DPWN, Dell, ATT, and most recently Microsoft. Dr Galli was Chief Technology and Chief Privacy Officer in Azure’s MCIGET. Gartner recognized Dr. Galli as an expert in data ingestion, quality, governance, integration, management, and all forms and analytics including sensor data.
Barry P. Chaiken, MD, MPH
Barry P. Chaiken, MD, MPH is a physician, public health specialist, and internationally recognized expert in healthcare AI, clinical informatics, and digital transformation. Trained at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Chaiken previously worked with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, experience that informs his expertise in public health analytics, system-level strategy, and the design of resilient, data-driven healthcare systems.
A former Chairperson of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), he has served as a strategic advisor to healthcare IT companies, life sciences organizations, and health systems worldwide. Dr. Chaiken is the author of Future Healthcare 2050 and Navigating the Code, and is a leading keynote speaker on AI, trust, clinician workflow, and patient experience.
A two-time cancer survivor and 41-year rider in the Pan-Mass Challenge, Dr. Chaiken brings a unique perspective that connects clinical knowledge, policy insight, and human experience.
Susie Branagan BSN,RN
Susie Branagan is a highly experienced nurse and healthcare leader whose career spans 25 years of ICU, pediatric psychiatry, adult medical-surgical care, telemetry, perioperative services, and hospital leadership. She has served in roles from frontline clinician to Nurse Manager, gaining a deep understanding of patient care, caregiver well-being, and the operational realities that shape healthcare systems.
As the founder of Susie Branagan Consulting, Susie specializes in trauma-informed care, Just Culture principles, leadership development, communication strategies, and building safe, supportive care environments. She helps teams strengthen accountability, improve psychological safety, and respond to challenging situations with clarity, compassion, and evidence-based practice.
What sets Susie apart is that everything she teaches comes directly from real-life experience, not from textbooks or theory. Her coaching, trainings, and leadership support are grounded in decades of navigating complex cases, supporting distressed families, advocating for staff, and leading teams through high-pressure clinical moments.
Susie’s mission is to transform healthcare culture by empowering leaders and caregivers with practical, human-centered tools that create safer, stronger, more resilient organizations.
Chris Hutchins
Chris Hutchins is the Founder & CEO of Hutchins Data Strategy, a consultancy that helps healthcare organizations unlock the value of data, AI, and analytics with clarity, ethics, and measurable impact. A nationally recognized voice in healthcare transformation, Chris previously served as SVP and Chief Data & Analytics Officer at LifePoint Health, and prior to that, as Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Northwell Health, New York’s largest integrated delivery network.
Over the past two decades, Chris has led enterprise-wide initiatives in self-service analytics, ambient AI, digital governance, and workforce enablement, always with a sharp focus on care equity, operational sustainability, and trust. His leadership is grounded in building practical, inclusive strategies that bring technologists, clinicians, and operators into shared alignment.
Chris is also the creator and host of The Signal Room, a podcast platform amplifying leadership, ethics, and innovation in health. He is a frequent contributor to CDO Magazine, HIMSS, and other national forums, where he advocates for AI adoption that augments human care, not replaces it.
Chris holds a deep belief that every data strategy is ultimately a human strategy, and that transformation only succeeds when it is designed with care at the center.
*When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other example products in the same category may have also been on display.
