Chief information security officers face mounting pressure as cyberattacks surge and complexities surrounding the implementation of GenAI and AI technologies emerge.
The vast majority - 92% - of the 500 CISOs surveyed by Trellix admitted they are questioning the trajectory of their CISO roles as they grapple with the growing pressures of AI integration, even as nearly half of those CISOs are actively engaged in securing their AI tools.
While 91% of survey respondents expressed optimism about the potential prospects and opportunities that AI presents, the cybersecurity skills gap and the need to recruit individuals with AI expertise added pressure.
According to the research, 89% of CISOs favor the adoption and integration of GenAI tools to address the looming cyber talent gap, viewing them as a potential solution to staffing issues within their organizations.
CISOs unanimously agree that any roles rendered redundant by GenAI implementation would be reallocated within the organization to oversee and manage these tools.
Many survey respondents have already established AI committees to assess these tools and to implement governance measures, including security frameworks and standards.
The rise in cyberattacks is another pressing issue, with nearly all of respondents reporting a cyberattack within the past six months, and 82% noting an uptick in such incidents.
Despite these challenges, 91% of CISOs believe that AI can be instrumental in fortifying their organizations against ransomware attacks and remain optimistic about the potential productivity gains offered by GenAI. AI, GenAI Present Challenges for CISOs.
Harold Rivas, CISO of Trellix, said the rapid adoption of GenAI within organizations presents a great challenge for CISOs.
From Rivas's perspective, CISOs have a unique opportunity to demonstrate their thought leadership and elevate their engagement with other executives by embracing the changes AI will bring and finding effective ways to govern this disruptive technology.
Organizations are responsible for keeping customers and their proprietary data secure, which uniquely positions CISOs to play a pivotal role in GenAI adoption and implementation.
The rise of AI and generative AI tools is a double-edged sword.
GenAI can help enhance security content creation, security testing and analytics, incident response, and forensics.
AI and machine learning can play a role in that, Britton pointed out, by ingesting signals from across the email and SaaS environment and deeply understanding normal behavior across this ecosystem.
Jose Seara, CEO and founder of DeNexus, pointed out that modern cybersecurity solutions are already AI-enabled and take advantage of AI's data processing power to make sense of a large volume of cybersecurity signals.
With risk quantified, the CISOs can identify the most pressing risk mitigation projects, justify cybersecurity investments, and optimize the allocation of their cybersecurity budget and resources.
This Cyber News was published on securityboulevard.com. Publication date: Mon, 13 May 2024 13:43:12 +0000