Key findings
This report explores generative AI adoption, data security risks, malware distribution trends, and personal cloud usage across organizations in Brazil. As genAI reaches full adoption and becomes embedded in everyday workflows, the central theme is clear: protecting regulated and sensitive data remains the top priority.
Regulated data remains the primary risk driver: Data policy violations across both genAI and personal applications are largely driven by regulated data, reinforcing the ongoing challenge of protecting compliance-sensitive and business-critical information in increasingly AI-enabled environments.
AI adoption is universal, but governance is still evolving: GenAI adoption has reached 100% of organizations in Brazil, with user adoption also rising significantly from 50% to 71%, and there is a clear shift from personal to managed tools. At the same time, continued overlap between personal and enterprise usage highlights that shadow AI risks and usability gaps persist.
AI is deeply embedded across workflows: GenAI is no longer limited to direct usage. Most organizations rely on AI-powered features embedded within everyday tools. This layered adoption increases the complexity of managing data exposure and enforcing consistent security controls.
Threats and risks are blending into trusted platforms: Attackers are leveraging widely trusted cloud services to distribute malware, while heavy use of personal applications continues to blur the line between corporate and personal environments, creating additional pathways for data exposure.
GenAI usage
GenAI: Adoption and usage trends
GenAI adoption across organizations in Brazil has reached full saturation over the past year, with 100% of organizations now using genAI applications. This saturation reflects increasing maturity and confidence in genAI technologies, as organizations in Brazil continue to integrate AI more deeply into their operations and align closely with broader global adoption patterns. At the same time, user adoption has grown significantly, with the share of users actively using genAI apps increasing from 50% to 71%, highlighting not just widespread availability but deeper, more consistent usage across the workforce.
GenAI adoption across organizations in Brazil has continued to follow a strong upward trend over the past year, signaling sustained momentum in how genAI is integrated into operational, analytical, and customer-facing workflows. This steady growth reflects increasing maturity and confidence in genAI technologies, as organizations align more closely with broader adoption patterns. At the same time, organizations in Brazil have taken meaningful steps to reduce shadow AI risks by shifting users away from personal genAI accounts and toward organization-managed tools. Over the past year, the percentage of people using personal genAI applications has dropped significantly from 81% to 52%, while the percentage using organization-managed genAI solutions has increased from 29% to 70%. At the same time, there is a growing overlap of users switching between personal and enterprise accounts, rising from 10% to 22%, suggesting that organizations still need to match the convenience, accessibility, and features users expect. Overall, this shift reflects stronger governance, improved oversight, and a clear move toward managed environments that enhance data protection, compliance, and risk control while continuing to support innovation.
In Brazil, the top genAI applications show a slightly different pattern compared to broader global trends. ChatGPT remains the most widely adopted genAI app, used by 88% of organizations. Notably, Anthropic Claude has moved into second place at 75%, surpassing Google Gemini at 74%, marking a departure from the typical global ranking. This shift highlights growing interest in alternative AI providers and a more diversified adoption landscape. The remaining leading applications include a mix of specialized and workflow-integrated AI tools that support a wide range of operational and customer-facing use cases.
The chart below illustrates how usage of the top genAI applications in Brazil has evolved over the past year, highlighting notable shifts in platform preference. During this period, ChatGPT has remained consistently strong, holding steady at above 80% adoption. The most significant change has been the rapid acceleration of Anthropic Claude starting in August 2025, seeing it climb into second place. In contrast, Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot have remained relatively stable over the same period, showing more gradual and consistent usage patterns. Overall, these trends point to a diversifying genAI ecosystem in Brazil, with organizations maintaining strong reliance on established leaders while increasingly adopting alternative platforms.
GenAI: App usage and data policy violation
As genAI adoption continues to expand across organizations in Brazil, concerns around data exposure are becoming increasingly critical. Organizations are using genAI for tasks such as summarizing documents, generating reports, and supporting operational workflows, activities that often involve sensitive financial and customer data and expand the potential attack surface. As genAI becomes more embedded in business processes, data protection remains a top priority, particularly in the presence of ongoing shadow AI risks. Analysis of data policy violations in Brazil shows that regulated data remains the largest category, accounting for 64% of incidents. Source code represents 21% of violations, followed by passwords and API keys at 9% and intellectual property at 7%. This distribution highlights the continued importance of protecting compliance-sensitive and proprietary information, reinforcing the need for strong DLP controls and well-governed genAI deployments.
Most blocked genAI apps
Organizations in Brazil are taking a cautious and risk-aware approach to genAI adoption, with many choosing to block specific applications due to security, privacy, and compliance concerns. While policies vary by organization, certain tools are restricted more frequently than others, reflecting where perceived risk is highest. In regulated environments, blocking entire categories of genAI applications can provide more consistent protection than managing individual tools. DeepSeek is the most frequently blocked genAI application at 37%, followed by Tactiq at 36% and Sider AI at 33%. These tools are often associated with browser extensions, meeting transcription, or productivity overlays, which can increase the risk of sensitive data exposure due to limited visibility and control over how data is processed. These patterns indicate that organizations in Brazil are not only reacting to risks posed by specific applications, but are also reinforcing broader governance strategies to ensure genAI usage aligns with security and compliance requirements.
User adoption of genAI
GenAI adoption is accelerating across organizations in Brazil, with AI capabilities increasingly embedded into both core operations and customer-facing workflows. Adoption spans multiple layers: 71% of users are using genAI applications directly, while a much larger share (96%) are leveraging tools that incorporate genAI-powered features indirectly. In addition, 93% of users are using genAI applications that rely on user data for training. This widespread and multi-layered adoption highlights how deeply genAI is becoming integrated into everyday workflows, often extending beyond explicit use into embedded functionality within common tools. It also underscores the growing importance of governance and data protection, as sensitive information may be exposed not only through direct use but also through AI capabilities operating behind the scenes.
Malware downloads
Malware distribution via cloud apps
Attackers frequently exploit trusted cloud platforms to distribute malware, taking advantage of the fact that users are more likely to open files hosted on familiar services. While these platforms work to remove malicious content, even short delays before detection can allow attacks to succeed and enable infected files to spread internally. Among Brazilian organizations, both GitHub and Microsoft OneDrive are the most abused platforms for malware distribution, each impacting 10% of organizations, followed by Google Drive at 6%. This pattern reinforces a broader shift in attacker tactics, where adversaries increasingly rely on widely trusted cloud services to host and deliver malicious content, making malicious activity harder to distinguish from legitimate traffic.
Cloud apps usage
Personal apps activity
Across Brazil, the widespread use of personal cloud and online applications in workplace environments continues to blur the boundaries between corporate and personal data management. LinkedIn is the most commonly used personal app at 95%, followed by Google Drive at 89%, while Spotify, ChatGPT, and OneDrive are used by 83% of organizations. While much of this activity supports legitimate use cases such as collaboration, professional networking, and productivity, it also introduces significant data security risks when sensitive information is involved. From personal genAI accounts to streaming, file-sharing, and communication platforms, these applications remain key points of potential data exposure, particularly when used outside approved workflows or during employee transitions.
Data policy violations in personal applications
Across Brazil, many organizations actively use DLP controls to monitor and manage the movement of sensitive data into personal applications, aiming to reduce accidental exposure or misuse. Regulated data accounts for 66% of policy violations, followed by source code at 23%, intellectual property at 7%, and passwords and API keys at 4%. This distribution highlights the strong concentration of compliance-sensitive and proprietary information in Brazilian environments, where regulated data continues to be the primary driver of risk exposure. Strengthening DLP coverage, improving employee awareness, and enforcing clear data-handling policies remain essential for minimizing both insider and external threats.
Personal app data violations
Organizations in Brazil use a variety of controls to reduce the risk of data leaks through personal cloud and genAI applications. Measures include blocking uploads to personal apps and providing real-time guidance to employees to prevent sensitive information from reaching unmanaged services. Google Drive is the most frequently controlled application at 46%, followed by ChatGPT at 31% and Microsoft OneDrive at 28%. These efforts reflect a strong focus on keeping regulated and proprietary data secure, reinforcing tighter governance over cloud and genAI usage.
Recommendations
With the growing use of genAI tools, both managed and personal, and the misuse of personal cloud apps, it is essential to strengthen visibility, refine policies, and prioritize proactive defenses to protect your organization in this fast-changing threat landscape. Based on the trends uncovered in this report, Netskope Threat Labs strongly encourages organizations across Brazil to take a fresh look at their overall security posture:
- Inspect all HTTP and HTTPS downloads, including all web and cloud traffic, to prevent malware from infiltrating your network. Netskope customers can configure their Netskope One NG-SWG with a threat protection policy that applies to downloads from all categories and applies to all file types.
- Block access to apps that do not serve any legitimate business purpose or pose a disproportionate risk to the organization. A good starting point is a policy to allow reputable apps currently in use while blocking all others.
- Use DLP policies to detect potentially sensitive information, including source code, regulated data, passwords and keys, intellectual property, and encrypted data, being sent to personal app instances, genAI apps, or other unauthorized locations.
- Use Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) technology to provide additional protection when there is a need to visit websites that fall into categories that can present a higher risk, like newly observed and newly registered domains.
Netskope Threat Labs
Staffed by the industry’s foremost cloud threat and malware researchers, Netskope Threat Labs discovers, analyzes, and designs defenses against the latest cloud threats affecting enterprises. Our researchers are regular presenters and volunteers at top security conferences, including DEF CON, Black Hat, and RSA.
About this report
Netskope provides threat protection to millions of users worldwide. Information presented in this report is based on aggregate usage data collected by the Netskope One platform relating to a subset of Netskope customers in Brazil. The statistics in this report are based on the period from March 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026. Stats reflect attacker tactics, user behavior, and organization policy.
