A new report from Sophos, a global leader in innovative security solutions, showed that despite 65% of companies using cybersecurity solutions that include generative AI (GenAI) capabilities, 89% of IT leaders are concerned that GenAI cybersecurity tools’ flaws could put their organization at risk.
Of these 89% of IT leaders, 43% are extremely concerned about the GenAI tools’ flaws, 46% are somewhat concerned, and the remaining 11% say they are not concerned at all.
This is based on a recently released report from the UK-based security solutions company titled “Beyond the Hype: The Business Reality of AI for Cybersecurity,” which surveyed 400 IT leaders.
Aside from growing concern about GenAI’s security risks, the study also found that 73% of organizations use cybersecurity solutions, including deep learning models, and 34% use GenAI in-house to elevate their cybersecurity.
In a related Sophos X-Ops research titled “Cybercriminals Still Not Fully on Board the AI Train (Yet),” they found that cybercriminals are also starting to use AI, but still with skepticism. By investigating underground forums, researchers found that some cybercriminals use AI to do mundane tasks, like crafting bulk emails, analyzing data, and other social engineering schemes.
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“As with many other things in life, the mantra should be ‘trust but verify’ regarding generative AI tools. We have not actually taught the machines to think; we have simply provided them the context to speed up the processing of large quantities of data,” said Chester Wisniewski, director, global field CTO, Sophos.
98% of surveyed organizations say they are already using AI in some capacity in their cybersecurity infrastructure. However, 87% of respondents are concerned about the lack of cybersecurity accountability and see the potential for overreliance on AI.
The study also revealed that GenAI’s desired benefit from cybersecurity tools changes with organization size. For instance, a small business with 50 to 99 employees prioritizes reducing employee burnout, while larger companies with 1,000 to 3,000 employees value improved protection from cyber threats more.
Other Key Findings from the “Beyond the Hype” Report
- 75% of IT leaders agree that the costs of GenAI in cybersecurity tools are challenging to measure.
- 80% of IT leaders believe that GenAI will significantly increase the cost of cybersecurity tools, but 87% believe that the savings of GenAI will offset the cost.
- 84% are concerned about reducing cybersecurity professional headcount due to the pressure of over-reliance on AI.