Why is there a growing need for AI-enabled cybersecurity?

While artificial intelligence (AI) undoubtedly improves productivity and sales, many overlook AI's ability to enhance protection against cyberattacks. This is according to a new report from the Capgemini Research Institute, which also found that breach attempts are continuing to rise.

Overall, Capgemini surveyed 850 senior executives across seven industries including consumer products, retail, banking, insurance, automotive, utilities, and telecom. 20% of the executive respondents were CIOs, while 10% were CISOs.

Cyberattacks are growing in rate and complexity

In today's digital and interconnected age, organisations are facing an urgent need to continually improve their cybersecurity. Indeed, the number of end-user devices, networks, and user interfaces are proceeding to grow as a result of advances in cloud, IoT, and 5G.

Over half of cyber analysts said that this vast array of data points, cloud infrastructure, and end-point devices is overwhelming. In fact, 23% said that they are not able to successfully investigate all identified attacks.

Moreover, the report suggests that hackers are now utilising AI as a key weapon. For example, AI algorithms are able to send "spear phishing" tweets six times faster than a human, with double the success rate.

In addition to this, the type of cyberattacks that require immediate intervention have notably increased. Specifically, 42% of respondents reported an increase in incidents through time-sensitive applications.

The growing need for AI-enabled cybersecurity

In order to respond to this new environment, enterprises are beginning to invest in AI-enabled cybersecurity. In fact, the report found that 69% of enterprises believe that they cannot effectively respond to cyberattacks without AI.

Almost half of respondents (48%) said that their budgets for AI in cybersecurity will increase by an average of 29% in FY2020. Overall, nearly three-quarters of firms (73%) said they were testing use cases for AI for cybersecurity in some way.

28% were currently using security products with embedded AI, while 30% were using proprietary AI algorithms. The remaining 42% said that they either use, or plan to use by 2020, both proprietary solutions and embedded products.

Although just one in five organisations used AI pre-2019, 63% plan to employ the technology by 2020. According to the report, an AI roadmap will enable organisations to "avoid unnecessary losses and, in some cases, even add additional sources of revenue."

Interested in joining the cybersecurity AI revolution? Check out our podcast with industry experts and execs from 451 Research, Darktrace, and CoreScientific to learn more