Leaders Believe AI Will Outperform Security Teams

Bugcrowd released the "Inside a CISO's Mind" report, which surveyed hundreds of global security leaders to uncover their perceptions about AI threats, the most important priorities and evolving roles, and common myths about CISOs.

Among the findings, one in every three participants (33%) believes that at least half of companies would be willing to sacrifice their customers' long-term privacy or security to save money. This is partially explained by the fact that 40% believe that less than a third of companies truly understand the risk of corruption.

Speaking of money, nine out of ten participants (87%) currently hire security personnel and 56% stated that security teams are currently understaffed. Despite some widespread misconceptions about not needing a university diploma, participants reported that only 6% of cybersecurity leaders have a university diploma and over 80% have some level of expertise in cybersecurity.

Despite hiring plans, 70% said they plan to reduce the number of security team employees in the next five years due to the adoption of AI technologies. Over 90% believe that AI already performs better than or at least will perform better than security experts in the near future. However, AI is not seen only as a benefit, as more than half (58%) believe that the risks of AI are worse than its potential benefits.

Due to concerns about malicious use of AI by attackers, 70% of security leaders prefer to use crowdsourced security to test AI defenses. In fact, more than seven out of ten (73%) have a positive view on ethical hacking and 75% already have experience in this area. With modern threats becoming more challenging and adaptable — 89% believe there are more threats and they are more serious — crowdsourced security must be at the center of an organization's cybersecurity strategy.

"The role of a CISO is evolving. Considering the current risk environment and the need to prioritize more than just flexibility, a CISO has more responsibility than ever before," said Nick McKenzie, CISO at Bugcrowd. "Filling the gap between CISOs and collective engineering by cybercriminals is critical to protect organizations from increasing AI threats and attacks."

As the cybersecurity environment continues to evolve, professionals and organizations must be ready to adapt to the latest trends and emerging technologies such as AI and crowdsourced cyber security.

Source: Leaders believe AI will outperform security teams (itsecurity.pt)