Vishal Salvi, managing director of national cybersecurity company Quick Heal Technologies, said: Mint that on average, “AI has the potential to reduce a cybersecurity company’s labor costs by 30 to 40 percent.” Although the impact of this cost reduction is not a 1:1 affair, in the long term, AI undeniably accelerates the decline in the unit cost of cybersecurity software as it grows at scale. »
Businesses are already seeing the benefits. Karon Shaiva, Managing Director of Mumbai-based MSME Idobro Impact Solutions, said: “For small businesses, cybersecurity spend is less than 1% of net spend, but this is also a factor in reducing the cost of security services. This is possible thanks to AI which helps reduce costs. »
According to Shaiva, this is because “it becomes very difficult for small businesses to bear the financial, operational and reputational losses in the event of a cyberattack.”
Such disruption became apparent in July. A faulty update from content distributor CrowdStrike led to widespread IT hardware outage, highlighting the need for even small businesses to manage cyberservices partners.
In August, a Gartner report predicted that cyber spending in India would increase 17 percent, to $3.4 billion next year, up from $2.9 billion this year. Managed cybersecurity providers, which leverage AI to reduce costs, are expected to grow 42% in India.
Cost management
Certainly, cybersecurity companies have always used AI to track new vulnerabilities and automate services. Managed service providers, to which companies outsource their cybersecurity operations, have until now been expensive because cybersecurity engineers are expensive resources. The adoption of AI and automation in services such as threat alerting is now helping to reduce this cost, which is essential for cost-conscious micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
This is important as MSMEs are key sellers and suppliers to Indian industrial conglomerates. Akshat Jain, co-founder and chief technology officer of cybersecurity company Cyware, said: “Large companies typically engage with hundreds of vendors and vendors who have approved access to their systems, making security MSMEs essential to safeguarding the ecosystem as a whole. Protecting MSMEs is not only about their own resilience, but also about preventing potential compromises that could spill over to larger businesses. »
Apurva Gopinath, assistant vice president at risk management, insurance and advisory firm Aon, further added that some sectors might be more sensitive than others. “BFSI is facing stringent regulations, while healthcare, due to rapid digitalization, is another key sector where cybersecurity adoption is growing rapidly,” she said .
Using cybersecurity for MSMEs
Initial adoption, following cost reductions, is accelerating. Ravindra Baviskar, director of business engineering at UK-based cybersecurity firm Sophos, said MSMEs are “implementing firewalls, adopting endpoint protection tools and performing security controls.” regular hygiene to meet industry standards.
“Adoption of cybersecurity platforms by MSMEs may not be as great as that of large enterprises, but they are outsourcing at least the bare minimum today. After all, cyberattacks target businesses of all sizes,” he added.
Affordable adoption of cybersecurity through AI is also a global trend. IBM’s July ‘Cost of a Data Breach’ Annual Report Shows Organizations That Adopt AI for Cybersecurity Saved $2.2 Million Per Year Compared to Those That Did Not .
Lalit Kalra, cybersecurity partner at consultancy EY India, agrees with IBM’s findings. “Reducing the prices of cybersecurity services, with the help of AI, depends on specific solutions. Organizations that traditionally spend more than $500,000 ( ₹4 crore) per year on governance, risk and compliance see a 70% reduction in this cost, when they opt for platforms that allow users to choose the services they need,” he declared.
Overall, Kalra, which consults several companies on cybersecurity best practices, said MSMEs have increased their cybersecurity spending by 60% this year, compared to 2023.
Aside from cost, AI also helps businesses respond to breaches more quickly. “Organizations that used AI and security automation significantly detected and contained an incident, on average 98 days faster than organizations not using these technologies,” the IBM report said.
Explaining why AI is having this impact on the accessibility of cybersecurity for small businesses, Katya Ivanova, director of sales at Switzerland-based cybersecurity company Acronis, said: “Instead of having an engineer who will analyze logs, understand the cyber threat and provide a solution, AI would do it automatically. It provides a summary of the threat in the form of a report and also compiles common data for future reference.
