Inside HiddenLayer’s Research Team: The Experts Securing the Future of AI

Every new AI model expands what's possible and what's vulnerable. Protecting these systems requires more than traditional cybersecurity. It demands expertise in how AI itself can be manipulated, misled, or attacked. Adversarial manipulation, data poisoning, and model theft represent new attack surfaces that traditional cybersecurity isn't equipped to defend.

At HiddenLayer, our AI Security Research Team is at the forefront of understanding and mitigating these emerging threats from generative and predictive AI to the next wave of agentic systems capable of autonomous decision-making. Their mission is to ensure organizations can innovate with AI securely and responsibly.

The Industry's Largest and Most Experienced AI Security Research Team

HiddenLayer has established the largest dedicated AI security research organization in the industry, and with it, a depth of expertise unmatched by any security vendor.

Collectively, our researchers represent more than 150 years of combined experience in AI security, data science, and cybersecurity. What sets this team apart is the diversity, as well as the scale, of skills and perspectives driving their work:

• Adversarial prompt engineers who have captured flags (CTFs) at the world's most competitive security events.
  
• Data scientists and machine learning engineers responsible for curating threat data and training models to defend AI
  
• Cybersecurity veterans specializing in reverse engineering, exploit analysis, and helping to secure AI supply chains.
  
• Threat intelligence researchers who connect AI attacks to broader trends in cyber operations.
  

Together, they form a multidisciplinary force capable of uncovering and defending every layer of the AI attack surface.

Establishing the First Adversarial Prompt Engineering (APE) Taxonomy

Prompt-based attacks have become one of the most pressing challenges in securing large language models (LLMs). To help the industry respond, HiddenLayer's research team developed the first comprehensive Adversarial Prompt Engineering (APE) Taxonomy, a structured framework for identifying, classifying, and defending against prompt injection techniques.

By defining the tactics, techniques, and prompts used to exploit LLMs, the APE Taxonomy provides security teams with a shared and holistic language and methodology for mitigating this new class of threats. It represents a significant step forward in securing generative AI and reinforces HiddenLayer's commitment to advancing the science of AI defense.

Strengthening the Global AI Security Community

HiddenLayer's researchers focus on discovery and impact. Our team actively contributes to the global AI security community through:

• Participation in AI security working groups developing shared standards and frameworks, such as model signing with OpenSFF.
  
• Collaboration with government and industry partners to improve threat visibility and resilience, such as the JCDC, CISA, MITRE, NIST, and OWASP.
  
• Ongoing contributions to the CVE Program, helping ensure AI-related vulnerabilities are responsibly disclosed and mitigated with over 48 CVEs.
  

These partnerships extend HiddenLayer's impact beyond our platform, shaping the broader ecosystem of secure AI development.

Innovation with Proven Impact

HiddenLayer's research has directly influenced how leading organizations protect their AI systems. Our researchers hold 25 granted patents and 56 pending patents in adversarial detection, model protection, and AI threat analysis, translating academic insights into practical defense.

Their work has uncovered vulnerabilities in popular AI platforms, improved red teaming methodologies, and informed global discussions on AI governance and safety. Beyond generative models, the team's research now explores the unique risks of agentic AI, autonomous systems capable of independent reasoning and execution, ensuring security evolves in step with capability.

This innovation and leadership have been recognized across the industry. HiddenLayer has been named a Gartner Cool Vendor, a SINET16 Innovator, and a featured authority in Forbes, SC Magazine, and Dark Reading.

Building the Foundation for Secure AI

From research and disclosure to education and product innovation, HiddenLayer's SAI Research Team drives our mission to make AI secure for everyone.

"Every discovery moves the industry closer to a future where AI innovation and security advance together. That's what makes pioneering the foundation of AI security so exciting."

- HiddenLayer AI Security Research Team

Through their expertise, collaboration, and relentless curiosity, HiddenLayer continues to set the standard for Security for AI.

About HiddenLayer

HiddenLayer, a Gartner-recognized Cool Vendor for AI Security, is the leading provider of Security for AI. Its AI Security Platform unifies supply chain security, runtime defense, posture management, and automated red teaming to protect agentic, generative, and predictive AI applications. The platform enables organizations across the private and public sectors to reduce risk, ensure compliance, and adopt AI with confidence.

Founded by a team of cybersecurity and machine learning veterans, HiddenLayer combines patented technology with industry-leading research to defend against prompt injection, adversarial manipulation, model theft, and supply chain compromise.