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AI, Digital Identity & the Next Wave of Cyber Risk
Nitesh Kumar reflects on the fast-evolving risk landscape shaped by generative AI, rising cyber threats, and the growing fragility of digital identities. He discusses how these technologies are reshaping both the attack surface and defence architecture, along with the industry’s readiness for quantum disruption and the increasing need for hybrid tech-risk skillsets as firms navigate the next wave of operational risk.
Nov 26, 2025
Nitesh Kumar
Nitesh Kumar, Managing Director RISK ORM, BNP Paribas
Tags: Operational and Non Financial Risk
The views and opinions expressed in this content are those of the thought leader as an individual and are not attributed to CeFPro or any other organization

Nitesh Kumar explains how generative AI is reshaping cyber and digital identity risk, introducing both efficiency gains and new vulnerabilities. AI models can now bypass traditional controls such as facial recognition, forcing banks to rethink how they secure digital identities and evaluate third-party AI tools. While many institutions are eager to adopt AI for its clear benefits, early missteps have highlighted the need for strong guardrails, careful use-case selection, and a more measured approach to implementation.

He also warns that quantum computing poses a future systemic threat by undermining today’s encryption foundations, making preparation for post-quantum cryptography essential. Looking ahead, Nitesh stresses that the biggest success factor will be talent: risk professionals must develop hybrid expertise in technology, operations, and risk. As organisations around the world face similar challenges, he notes that cross-industry knowledge sharing is critical to accelerating safe adoption and avoiding repeated mistakes.

Nitesh Kumar Bio

Nitesh Kumar is an internationally recognized executive with extensive global experience in Financial Services across the United States, United Kingdom, and India. Currently serving as the Managing Director for 2nd Line of Defence responsible for Cyber and Payments systems Control testing at BNP Paribas Group. Proven expertise in Cyber Security, Cyber Audit, Data Privacy, Technology, and Operational Risk Management. He holds Electronic Engineering degree and MBA with many certifications such as CISA, CISSP, CRISC CGEIT certified. He has successfully created agile and sustainable risk and audit teams, supporting digital transformation, secure cloud adoption, and innovation strategies. His recent success includes publishing the work program for LLM audit and AI Red Team aligning with Microsoft PyRIT framework.

Nitesh Kumar
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