Across industries, organisations are racing to adopt new technologies, particularly AI. But as adoption accelerates, a gap is becoming increasingly hard to ignore.
According to PwC’s 2025 Digital Trust Insights, 66 per cent of technology leaders now say cyber risk is their top concern. Yet only two per cent of organisations have achieved true, enterprise-wide cyber resilience.
This disconnect reveals a deeper issue. Cybersecurity is still treated as IT hygiene or operational insurance, rather than what it has become: economic infrastructure. Trust is the invisible layer that determines whether AI, digital commerce, and platforms can scale sustainably or stall under their own risk.
When AI adoption moves faster than governance
AI has unlocked enormous value, but it has also expanded attack surfaces faster than most organisations can respond.
The same PwC survey found that 67 per cent of organisations believe generative AI has increased their cyber attack surface. Inside companies, this shows up in familiar ways: employees experimenting with AI tools outside approved systems, browser-based agents automating tasks, and informal workflows built on powerful but poorly governed technology.
Innovation rarely waits for governance. But when guardrails lag too far behind, trust erodes quietly.
A clear example can be seen in the growing risks around AI prompt injection. OpenAI has acknowledged that prompt injection is a long-term security challenge that may never be fully solved. These attacks can manipulate AI systems into unintended actions, misinterpret user intent, or expose sensitive information — often without users ever seeing what went wrong.
The consequence is subtle but significant. Users may not understand the technical failure, but they experience the fallout. Confidence weakens. Adoption slows. Trust becomes fragile.
Platform-level trust requires structural security decisions
At scale, trust cannot be sustained through messaging alone. It requires architecture, governance, and oversight.
As digital platforms grow larger and more influential, cybersecurity is increasingly treated as a public trust issue rather than a private technical concern. Few examples illustrate this shift more clearly than TikTok’s US restructuring.
Also Read: Why protecting data today means proving you can restore trust
In January 2026, TikTok signed an agreement to divest 45 per cent of its US operations to a consortium of American investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. Under the new structure, Oracle will serve as TikTok’s trusted security partner, responsible for securing and managing US user data, auditing national security compliance, and replicating a US-specific version of the platform’s algorithm under new jurisdiction.
This move is not just about regulation. It reflects a broader reality: data residency, infrastructure control, and third-party oversight are now prerequisites for trust, not optional safeguards. For platforms handling massive volumes of personal data, cybersecurity decisions increasingly shape whether users, regulators, and partners remain willing to engage.
Security is becoming a user-facing trust signal
Cybersecurity is no longer invisible to users, whether platforms want it to be or not.
Recent Cybernews research, as cited in The Guardian, uncovered around 16 billion exposed login credentials circulating through infostealer malware datasets, prompting widespread warnings to reset passwords and strengthen authentication practices. At the same time, credential theft surged by 160 per cent in 2025, now accounting for one in five data breaches, driven by AI-powered phishing and Malware-as-a-Service tools.
These numbers matter because they translate into everyday experience. Compromised accounts lead to forced password resets, suspicious login alerts, and locked services. When trust breaks, users rarely make noise. They disengage quietly and permanently.
This is why security measures increasingly double as reputation management.
Meta’s global anti-scam campaign offers a clear illustration. In 2023, consumers reported losing more than US$10 billion to fraud, a 14 per cent increase year-on-year. 40 per cent of reported social media scams involved online shopping, often leaving victims without the products they paid for.
In response, Meta dismantled over two million scam-related accounts globally. These actions are not just enforcement measures. They are visible trust signals, designed to show users that protection is happening in real time, not buried in policy documents.
Trust drives commerce, especially in emerging digital markets
In digital commerce, trust is not a compliance cost. It is a growth multiplier.
Nowhere is this clearer than in Southeast Asia. According to Lazada and Cube’s research, nearly 90 per cent of online shoppers in the region are active in curated, high-trust Mall environments, and 90 per cent are willing to pay more when buying from these spaces. Notably, eight per cent of respondents are willing to pay over 30 per cent extra for what they perceive as a trust premium.
These findings reinforce a critical point. Payments, identity verification, live commerce, and cross-border transactions all rely on cybersecurity as a foundation. When platforms feel safe, commerce flows. When they do not, growth stalls.
Cybersecurity is economic infrastructure, not insurance
Taken together, the pattern is clear.
AI is increasing exposure. Platforms are restructuring around security. Consumers are withdrawing trust when risks feel unmanaged. Commerce is rewarding safer ecosystems.
Over the past year, I have personally received multiple notifications informing me that my passwords were exposed in data breaches. Some platforms forced immediate resets. Others quietly suggested updates “as a precaution”. None of these moments felt dramatic on their own. But collectively, they changed how I interact with digital services.
I hesitate before connecting to new apps. I am more selective about where I store payment details. I think twice before adopting new tools, even when they promise speed or convenience.
This is what cybersecurity looks like when it becomes economic infrastructure. It not only prevents worst-case scenarios. It determines who gets to participate confidently in the digital economy and who opts out.
Security, in this context, is no longer insurance against rare disasters. It is the foundation that allows digital systems to function at scale.
Trust is what allows innovation to scale
Innovation moves fast. Trust determines how far it goes.
Security is often framed as the opposite of speed. In reality, it is what makes speed sustainable. When users trust platforms, they experiment more. When businesses trust infrastructure, they invest deeper. When ecosystems trust their safeguards, innovation compounds instead of stalling.
The next phase of the digital economy will not be won by those who ship the fastest features or adopt the most advanced AI. It will be shaped by those who treat cybersecurity as a trust layer rather than a technical afterthought.
For founders, this means building security into product decisions early.
For platforms, it means making protection visible and meaningful.
For policymakers, it means recognising cybersecurity as critical economic infrastructure.
Because in a digital economy built on speed, trust is what allows progress to last.
—
Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.
Enjoyed this read? Don’t miss out on the next insight. Join our WhatsApp channel for real-time drops.
Header image credit: Canva
The post The trust problem behind AI adoption and platform growth appeared first on e27.