Today, more companies are choosing to implement artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in cybersecurity tools. In fact, a Webroot report found that 74% of businesses across the US and Japan have already done so in 2017.
AI and ML adoption is on the rise
ML and AI could be crucial technologies in the future prevention of cyberattacks. However, a recent report found that 87% of researchers believe that it would take longer than three years before they can trust AI to lead cybersecurity decisions. According to Webroot, 73% of organisations plan to use even more AI and ML tools in 2019. Nevertheless, 72% said that they did not care whether their cybersecurity uses AI/ML as long as it keeps their company safe.
AI and ML offer a host of benefits, from improved productivity to faster threat detection. 35% of IT professionals consider AI and ML to be "at least somewhat important in their decision-making process." Meanwhile, 65% of respondents said that these technologies are a necessity. While 82% of companies report a "very or extremely high level of comfort with AI/ ML", many were still unsure how cybersecurity vendors source or update their threat data.
The current state of cyberattacks
34% of respondents stated that their organisation had experiencing a damaging security breach in the past twelve months. Nevertheless, these attacks occurred despite an increased spending on AI/ML-based cybersecurity tools. Overall, 76% of companies stated that they had a high level of confidence in their security because of their investment. Despite using these tools, 58% of respondents were unsure what AI/ML means.
As a result, the report indicates that further education on these technologies would be beneficial to IT professionals across the globe. Notably, the survey also found that those who had experienced an attack had not lost faith in AI and ML. 84% of respondents believe that cybercriminals are also using AI and ML in their attacks. It is therefore evident that there is a "strong belief that AI/MLbased cybersecurity is no longer simply nice to have; it's crucial to stop modern cyberattacks."
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