NSS Labs Publishes Two Foundational White Papers on Enterprise AI Security

Developed with Industry Collaboration from Amazon Web Services (AWS), F5, and Microsoft

AUSTIN, Texas, March 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- NSS Labs, the leading authority in independent cybersecurity product validation, today announced the publication of two new white papers addressing the rapidly evolving challenge of securing artificial intelligence in enterprise environments:

• AI Security Beyond the Model: What Enterprises Need to Care About — and Why
• Evaluating Enterprise AI Security: Questions Every Buyer Should Be Able to Answer

Together, the papers provide enterprise security leaders with a structured, governance-driven framework for understanding AI risk in production systems. The research was developed in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), F5, and Microsoft as well as other industry leaders.

"AI Security Beyond the Model: What Enterprises Need to Care About — and Why," outlines why securing the AI model alone is insufficient and why enterprise AI security must be treated as a system‑level and governance challenge. The aim is to provide concrete guidance to Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), enterprise buyers, and Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) leaders on the questions to ask before real-world AI failures are exposed under regulatory, legal, customer, or board-level scrutiny.

"Evaluating Enterprise AI Security: Questions Every Buyer Should Be Able to Answer" moves from theory to procurement discipline to help enterprise buyers formulate better questions when shortlisting AI security vendors. The focus is primarily on runtime guardrails in the form of AI Protection Systems, the controls outside the model that enforce policy, protect data, and produce audit evidence.

"We're at the beginning of the AI revolution and everyone has questions," said Vikram Phatak, CEO of NSS Labs. "These papers provide a framework for how to think about securing AI as well as practical guidance for governance of what their AI systems are permitted to do and why. Yes, AI security is a technical issue, but it is also a governance issue."

The white papers highlight several critical priorities for enterprises:

• Embedding AI security into Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) frameworks
• Moving beyond model-centric controls to system-level runtime guardrails
• Managing delegated authority in agentic AI systems
• Combining detection with verification where certainty is required
• Establishing measurable, independent validation practices

Together, the papers provide a practical roadmap for organizations to safely transition from AI experimentation to accountable, production-grade deployment.

Both white papers are available for download at nsslabs.com.

About NSS Labs

NSS Labs delivers research-backed insights through its advanced testing platforms, empowering enterprises, security vendors, and service providers to make informed, evidence-based cybersecurity decisions. By handling the heavy lifting of testing for effectiveness, performance, and suitability, NSS Labs helps clients move beyond assumptions to gain actionable clarity. Its auditing and governance services offer continuous assurance that deployed security technologies are performing as expected, protecting investments and supporting accountability. For more information visit nsslabs.com    

SOURCE NSS Labs