3 Cybersecurity Predictions for the AI-Driven World

Everyone in the cybersecurity world is always trying to understand what is currently going on and what might happen in the future to mitigate against known and unknown threats.

Artificial intelligence is making things both interesting and scary, especially considering how much people are now using the technology. With the cybersecurity industry growing rapidly, AI is something many organisations and cybersecurity experts are seriously keeping an eye on. 

To help you stay ahead of the game, let’s look at some cybersecurity predictions for the coming two years.

1. AI Cyber Attacks Will Increase

It is unsurprising to hear this will likely happen because we have already seen AI used in other nefarious ways, including identity theft and impersonation. Even though businesses and organisations are leveraging the power of AI for things that help us progress, the same technology is arming criminals with unprecedented capabilities.

The potential for AI and related technology to create new types and angles of phishing attacks through deepfakes, execute botnet attacks at scales never seen before, and hack multiple systems simultaneously through coordinated cyber-attacks is terrifying.

Ultimately, organisations will have to find approaches to dealing with these challenges. They can use the same AI tools to detect and protect themselves from existing and new threats, particularly in industries that are regularly targeted, such as finance and healthcare.

2. Insider Threats Will lead to More Attacks

A Gartner report indicated that human failure and lack of talent will be major reasons for more than half of all AI-related cyber-attacks by 2025. The report further says that many organisations have not trained their employees on the cybersecurity practices that can help them avoid and defeat attacks. The report calls this the “insider threat” and says it will be so severe that businesses must start preparing to eliminate it now.

Businesses can do this by providing avenues for employees to learn the best cybersecurity practices. Options like enrolling them in a cyber security course and continuous training are at the forefront of making employees better equipped to deal with this.

If we do not see a significant push by businesses to do this by the end of 2024, we are likely to see a massive increase in attacks.

3. Security Gaps Will Emerge Due to a Lack of Cybersecurity Talent

One study in the United States said that the shortage of cybersecurity experts reached 4 million people in 2023. The shortage is due to several reasons, including tech lay-offs, budget cutbacks, economic uncertainty, and increased demand due to the increase of AI-related cyber-attacks.

With security teams severely understaffed, many organisations are ill-prepared and ill-equipped to respond to cyber attacks sufficiently. This issue is further worsened by the fact that there is a large skills gap in the current workforce. The lack of talent will cost businesses a lot of money and resources in the coming years unless they make a huge push to train and retain cybersecurity experts immediately.

Artificial intelligence is often called the greatest technology to be developed in the modern age. While it can do a lot of good, malicious actors are already using it to carry out cybersecurity threats. It is alarming that, looking at the trends and predictions by numerous bodies, things are about to get much worse unless businesses can train and retain more cybersecurity experts and learn to leverage the same AI tools to thwart cybersecurity attacks.