Artificial intelligence in cybersecurity has been a hot topic lately, especially with the rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. But does that mean it would make a great addition to your company’s operations?
Let’s take a closer look at how AI in cyber security impacts several industries, its benefits and detriments, and what to be aware of if you plan on implementing it into your enterprise.
Since AI can help with large sets of data, it can take a lot off of the shoulders of IT teams. By systematically organizing data, your IT staff can focus on more immediate tasks and not have to worry about the risk of human error.
One benefit of AI is how quickly it can identify and respond to threats. While your IT team would need to manually detect and create the right response to each cyber threat and vulnerability, AI, as long as it’s established with the correct parameters, can accomplish this instantly without an excessive amount of support.
AI may be helpful for many companies, but threat actors are more than aware of its prevalent usage. As a result, threat actors will be leveraging AI themselves to dissect the cybersecurity postures of enterprises and automate many of their attacks.
Threat actors that leverage generative AI to automate many of their processes, for example, will accelerate phishing and even vishing attacks. Generative AI is, for the most part, capable of creating realistic dialogue and carrying conversations not so dissimilar to a person. This will only continue to become more indistinguishable as AI advances.
Threat actors realize the emergence of AI in the world and see it as an opportunity to launch more cyber attacks. With this in mind, they will attempt to reverse-engineer different AI models to create tailored attacks, potentially rendering AI more of a detriment than a benefit for many organizations without the proper cyber security safeguards in place.
AI is expected to be involved in several operations across numerous industries. In fact, over 35% of worldwide companies use AI for their operations already.
Cybersecurity professionals will be forced to adapt and change how they address AI cyber threats as well as new vulnerabilities. This includes how they perform assessments, tests, and more.
AI is particularly great at making predictions based on a set of parameters. This can help cybersecurity professionals predict future attacks based on a set of patterns and behaviors of events, enabling security teams to respond quickly with the correct solution before an attack escalates.
While utilizing AI for internal processes has benefits, including boosting operational efficiency and alleviating the workloads of IT employees, it can also pose significant vulnerabilities if integrated incorrectly.
If organizations implement cybersecurity AI into their operations without proper safeguards in place from their IT team, threat actors can use this to their advantage, as they’ll continue to figure out ways to hack AI models.
It’s crucial for organizations not to put all of their faith into one tool and should instead invest in the right resources to continually test their cybersecurity posture, so their AI models are operating as a strength, not as a weakness that’s susceptible to cyber threats.
Whether you choose to implement AI into your operations is a choice you’ll have to make. Regardless, you’ll want to ensure your organization, from the top to the bottom, understands the best practices for avoiding cyber threats, including ones that AI is highly susceptible to.
Get your copy of 5 1/2 Easy Steps to Avoid Cyber Threats and take the first step to fortify your organization’s cybersecurity posture today, even in the wake of several AI effects on the cybersecurity landscape.