THE Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit 2024 took place June 3-5 at National Harbor in Maryland, focusing primarily on the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) on cybersecurity.
As organizations embrace AI for innovation and efficiency, it is critical to understand the opportunities and challenges associated with this new technology. Here are three AI-related themes I observed at the summit:
- Generative AI presents a double-edged sword.
Generative AI (GenAI) has become a revolution in the cybersecurity industry, providing both opportunities and risks. Jeremy D’Hoinne, research vice president for security operations and infrastructure protection at Gartner, addressed this topic during his presentation on the first day of the conference. On the one hand, cybersecurity professionals can leverage GenAI to automate threat detection, analyze large amounts of data, and generate actionable insights. This allows organizations to take a proactive approach to cybersecurity, anticipating and mitigating threats before they materialize.
However, the accessibility of GenAI tools also poses a significant challenge, as cybercriminals can exploit these technologies to create sophisticated attacks, such as AI-generated phishing emails and malware variants. The rapid creation of these threats has reduced the time it takes to execute cyberattacks and reduced the initial cost to cybercriminals, putting immense pressure on cybersecurity teams to keep pace with the changing landscape. threat landscape.
As GenAI continues to reshape the cyber threat landscape, it is crucial for organizations to build resilience against these evolving threats. Cybersecurity professionals must remain responsive to rapidly evolving technologies, learn from them, and seek to maximize the benefits they bring while mitigating potential risks.
- Humans are still important, even essential.
While AI offers enormous potential in cybersecurity, we cannot neglect the importance of human expertise. The summit highlighted the need for a close relationship between humans and AI, in which AI augments human capabilities rather than replacing them.
Cybersecurity professionals must demonstrate critical thinking and domain expertise to effectively leverage AI-based tools. This human augmentation or co-pilot approach ensures that results from AI systems are reviewed and validated, reducing the risk of false positives and ensuring accuracy in threat detection and response.
The human-AI connection will continue to revolutionize cybersecurity strategies, enabling teams to work with greater speed, efficiency and precision. By integrating AI into security operations, organizations can unlock the value of their security talent, allowing professionals to focus on high-level strategic initiatives while AI handles repetitive tasks and analysis. data.
- Teams can build resilience with AI-powered cyber products.
As organizations face an increasingly complex threat landscape, as outlined in a speech by Gartner vice presidents Christopher Mixter and Dennis Xu, building resilience against cyberattacks has become a top priority. Nearly every vendor at the summit was considering integrating AI into their existing technology stack. The summit highlighted the role of AI-based cybersecurity products in strengthening an organization’s defense mechanisms.
AI-powered methodologies can help organizations transition to advanced security frameworks, such as Zero Trust, promising comprehensive protection against evolving threats. By integrating AI with threat detection, investigation and response technologies, organizations can meet the demands of hybrid cloud environments and enable security analysts to work more efficiently.
Additionally, AI products can identify vulnerabilities, monitor data access anomalies, and alert cybersecurity professionals of potential threats in real time. This proactive approach can save valuable time in detecting and resolving issues, thereby improving overall security.
As GenAI continues to shape the threat landscape, organizations must take a balanced approach that harnesses the power of AI while prioritizing human expertise and collaboration.
By investing in AI-powered cybersecurity products, fostering a culture of resilience, and embracing the human-AI partnership, organizations can address the challenges posed by AI-driven threats and unlock the full potential of this transformative technology. As the cybersecurity landscape evolves, staying ahead of emerging threats requires a proactive, adaptive approach that leverages the collective intelligence of humans and machines.
Stephen Kowski, Field Technical Director, SlashNext
