BENGALURU: With a notable increase in cyberattacks, especially artificial intelligence (AI)-generated attacks, organisations need to prioritise raising awareness about rising cyber threats and fortify their defences accordingly.
These AI attacks, API (application programming interface) risks and phishing top the list of worries for chief information security officers (CISOs), says HCLTech’s The Global Cyber Resilience Study 2024-25.
Nearly 80% of the security leaders across industries and countries anticipate a cyberattack on their organisations in the next 12 months while only 48% believe they can prevent one.
About 54% of the security leaders identify AI-generated attacks as the biggest security risk and 76% of the security leaders faced high to moderate challenges in resuming business fully in the aftermath of a cyberattack.
Malicious actors have increasingly turned to AI to analyse and refine their attack strategies, thereby increasing the likelihood of executing successful phishing/social engineering and ransomware attacks.
Industries brace for AI threats
The report points out that different industries are facing distinct cybersecurity challenges as attack methods evolve. In manufacturing, 58% of security leaders worry about AI-generated attacks that could disrupt essential production operations, threatening the industry’s resilience. For Life Sciences and Healthcare, ransomware is the top concern to the PII (personally identifiable information) and PHI (protected health information) data, with 60% viewing it as the biggest threat. In financial services, API vulnerabilities are a major worry for 56%, as these can lead to significant data breaches or outages.
“Building a strong digital foundation for modern organisations requires robust prevention, response and recovery capabilities against cyberattacks. With AI-driven threats on the rise and recovery becoming more complex, adopting a strategy centered on comprehensive resilience is essential. This includes investing in cyber resilience solutions, zero-trust controls and AI-assisted automation, and streamlining security tools through a platform-based approach,” said Jagadeshwar Gattu, president, digital foundation services, HCLTech.
“In the next one to two years, the primary goals of cybersecurity budgets are to improve compliance and move to real-time risk management, with security leaders predicting an average budget increase of 11%," the report said.
These firms' investment priorities include improving compliance and risk management, SOC (Security Operations Center) automation, incident response and recovery, and threat intelligence.
The report also highlights cyber automation, which is automatically detecting, investigating and remediating cyber threats—with or without human intervention— using a programmatic solution designed for that purpose.
“Cybersecurity is a strategic capability for businesses—and CISOs and CROs (Chief Risk Officers) must serve as a critical bridge between the board and
technology/business teams, transitioning to real-time risk governance and control execution to manage rapidly changing threat landscapes. As cyber threats evolve daily, the effective implementation of a cyber strategy increasingly relies on automation and AI,” said Amit Jain, executive vice-president and global head, cybersecurity services, HCLTech.
Top IAM tech firms will invest
In the next one to two years, top digital identity or Identity and Access Management(IAM) technologies that organisations will invest in include identity governance, customer identity and access management, multi-factor authentication and single sign-on and machine identity and access management.