.jpeg)
.png)
89% of IT Leaders Concerned About GenAI Flaws Affecting Cyber Security, Says Sophos Survey
-
- - Newsroom -
- Editor --
- 12 February, 2025
Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyber-attacks released a new report, “Beyond the Hype: The Businesses Reality of AI for Cyber security,” which surveyed 400 IT leaders on their use of AI in security. The survey found that, despite 65% having adopted generative artificial intelligence (GenAI capabilities) 89% of IT leaders are concerned that flaws in GenAI cyber security tools could put their organization at risk.
Additionally, according to new Sophos X-Ops research, “Cybercriminals Still Not Getting on Board the AI Train (Yet),” released recently, there has been a slight but noteworthy shift in how cybercriminals use AI. After investigating several underground forums, Sophos X-Ops found that, while there’s still skepticism about GenAI, some criminals are using it to automate mundane tasks, such as crafting bulk emails and analyzing data. Others are incorporating it into spam and social engineering toolkits.
With some form of AI embedded in the cyber security infrastructure of 98% of organizations surveyed, IT leaders expressed concern about potential over-reliance on AI, with 87% of respondents stating they were concerned about a resulting lack of cyber security accountability.
GenAI and Reducing Burnout
Different-sized organizations expressed different priorities for utilizing GenAI. While large organizations (those with more than 1,000 employees) are prioritizing improved protection, respondents with 50-99 employees rated reducing burnout as their top desired benefit from GenAI tools. However, complicating matters, across all sizes of organizations, 84% of leaders surveyed said they were concerned about pressure to reduce cyber security professional headcount due to unrealistic expectations about AI’s abilities to replace human operators.
Other Key Findings from the “Beyond the Hype” Report:
Costs of GenAI Are Hard to Quantify: 75% of IT leaders agree that the costs of GenAI in cyber security products are hard to quantify.
Companies Are Counting on Savings from GenAI: While 80% of IT leaders believe that GenAI will significantly increase the cost of cyber security tools, most organizations believe GenAI offers a path to lowering overall cyber security expenditure with 87% of respondents believing the savings of GenAI will offset the costs.
RELATED NEWS
