The greatest strength of online learning is the anytime and anywhere characteristic, but the online aspect is also our greatest vulnerability.  We tend to think often about the worldwide reach and impact of online learning. Through online, we have the power to change lives and societies. However, we are seriously vulnerable, more so, one might argue, than our campus-based colleagues. The online digital nature of our field is such that we are subject to outages and cyberattacks.  As we move toward the integration of more “smart” AI applications such as neural networks,   concerning strategies are emerging. Intelligent chat boxes, “smart” assistant programs and learner face- or voice-recognition programs all carry vulnerabilities due to the emergence of adversarial machine learning, creating another approach to compromising our online learning programs.