By Abhishek Srinivasan, Director, Product Management, Array Networks
AI is a powerful tool with the potential to transform businesses through automation, innovation, and improved efficiency. Yet, alongside these opportunities come serious risks. While AI can fortify cybersecurity efforts, it can also be exploited by cybercriminals for more sophisticated attacks.
Organisations now grapple with a crucial challenge: how to capitalise on AI’s advantages while safeguarding against its potential threats.
Risks of AI in Security
While AI offers powerful tools to enhance security, it also introduces new vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit to launch more sophisticated and targeted attacks, including:
Risk to Data Integrity
The widespread use of Generative AI platforms in day-to-day operations can inadvertently lead employees to disclose personal and confidential information. This unintentional leakage can encompass customer data, intellectual property (IP), and other critical business information, jeopardising data integrity and security, and exposing organisations to significant risks.
Another risk comes from training data. AI models trained on sensitive organisational data may inadvertently reveal confidential information, such as customer data, intellectual property, or trade secrets. This can lead to data breaches, reputational damage, and legal consequences.
Enhanced Social Engineering
Generative AI has advanced to a point where it can produce unique, grammatically sound, and contextually relevant content. Cybercriminals utilise this technology to create convincing phishing emails, text messages, and other forms of communication that mimic legitimate interactions.
Unlike traditional phishing attempts, which often exhibit suspicious language or grammatical errors, AI-generated content can evade detection and manipulate targets more effectively. Furthermore, AI can produce deepfake videos or audio recordings that convincingly impersonate trusted individuals, increasing the likelihood of successful scams.
System Manipulation
Threat actors can manipulate AI systems to produce incorrect predictions or deny services to legitimate customers. Cybercriminals can alter code to steal sensitive information or disrupt services, significantly impacting business operations and customer trust.
Bias and Inaccuracy
Large Language Models (LLMs) operate on vast datasets, which can introduce unintended biases and inaccuracies. Such issues may manifest in outputs, leading to erroneous conclusions and financial miscalculations. Without proper oversight, the use of Generative AI can also exacerbate the risk of “hallucinations,” where AI generates false information. These hallucinations can result in severe financial reporting errors, eroding trust with customers, investors, and regulatory bodies, and causing costly reputational damage.
Code Manipulation
Cybercriminals are increasingly adept at manipulating LLMs to alter output, leading to potential inaccuracies in generated code. As organisations rely on AI for code generation, employees must stay cautious and ensure that all AI-generated code undergoes thorough testing before implementation.
Erosion of Customer Trust
When organisations employ AI for customer interactions, transparency is essential. Customers must be informed that they are engaging with AI rather than human representatives and should understand how their data is utilised.
Leveraging AI to Strengthen Cybersecurity
Now that we’ve explored how AI can be used to exploit vulnerabilities and potentially aid cyberattacks, let’s examine how enterprises can use the same technology to mitigate risks and enhance cybersecurity.
Threat Detection
AI, particularly Machine Learning (ML) and deep learning, can be instrumental in detecting suspicious activities and identifying abnormal patterns in network traffic. AI can establish a baseline of normal behavior by analysing vast datasets, including traffic trends, application usage, browsing habits, and other network activity. This baseline can serve as a guide for spotting anomalies and potential threats.
AI’s ability to process large volumes of data in real-time means it can flag suspicious activities faster and more accurately, enabling immediate remediation and minimising the chances of a successful cyberattack.
Red Teaming Exercise
Red teaming is a cybersecurity simulation exercise where ethical hackers or cybersecurity professionals simulate attacks to test the strength of an organisation’s defenses. AI can enhance red teaming by helping simulate realistic attack scenarios, including AI-powered cyberattacks, to better understand vulnerabilities, weak spots, and gaps in security protocols.
By leveraging Generative AI (GenAI) in red teaming, organisations can patch issues before they are exploited by malicious actors, improving their overall security posture.
Incident Response and Risk Prediction
AI can significantly improve incident response times, allowing companies to detect, contain, and neutralise threats faster. Based on past incidents and other historical data, AI-driven systems can predict potential future risks and take preventive measures to mitigate them. This predictive capability allows organisations to be proactive, identifying vulnerabilities before they are exploited and reducing overall exposure to cyber risks.
Employee Training and Awareness
Employees are the first line of defense against cyber threats, making their awareness and preparedness crucial. As AI becomes more integrated into business operations, organisations must implement comprehensive training programs to educate employees about the potential risks associated with AI. These programs should focus on:
- Data Privacy and Confidentiality: Employees using GenAI tools must understand the risks of inadvertently sharing confidential or sensitive information.
- AI-Powered Phishing Attacks: Employees need to be equipped with the skills to identify convincing AI-generated phishing emails, messages, and other social engineering tactics.
- Incident Response: Training should also cover the steps employees must take if they suspect a cyberattack has occurred. This includes how to report incidents promptly, mitigate damage, and ensure that appropriate follow-up actions are taken.
By keeping employees informed and vigilant, organisations can significantly reduce the risk of AI-related security breaches and enhance overall cybersecurity.
Conclusion
As AI becomes increasingly integrated into everyday business operations, it’s essential for organisations to address the emerging risks associated with its use. While AI can empower cybercriminals to launch more sophisticated attacks, enterprises also leverage this technology to stay ahead of threats by detecting and mitigating them proactively.
In addition, ongoing employee training and awareness programs are vital, ensuring that staff are well-prepared to recognise AI-related risks and take appropriate actions to safeguard both their personal information and the organisation’s security.