Today, many organizations are utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) at some capacity to refine their processes, reduce the margin for human error, make informed business decisions, and ultimately improve the bottom line. From manufacturing companies using it to improve quality control, to insurance companies using it to predict rates—the business benefits of AI are evident across all industries. However, as AI becomes more sophisticated and integrated into our society, it brings with it opportunity and imminent risk.
While organizations are adopting the technology to benefit them, cybercriminals are too. “The same tools helping scale a company, are actually the same tools that can destroy it,” says Bob Keegan, Senior Vice President of Tandym Group’s Technology vertical. It is predicted by experts that AI will enable cybercriminals to launch attacks at a far greater (and more frequent) level due to its ability to quickly understand and process large datasets such as passwords, mimic genuine human behavior, and therefore bypass previously secure systems.
As tech leaders and professionals work to understand the benefits of artificial intelligence, they must also work to arm themselves against malicious behavior associated with it. And of course, AI is assisting with this too. In fact, 82% of IT decision makers plan to invest in AI-driven cybersecurity in the next two years. “When used for cybersecurity, AI can reduce incident response times by predicting and remediating issues at a faster rate,” says Bob. “In the past, companies have been (and still are) utilizing cybersecurity professionals in a war room to detect suspicious activity—however when AI is not involved, this can be a slow, methodical process, and can leave a lot of room for human error. Because AI has an innate ability to remember and learn, it can use historical knowledge to predict a cyberattack before it even happens—and save companies time, resources, and a lot of money.” Companies also must remember that not all threats will be external. Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and tech leaders can also detect internal threats by using AI to help monitor and report on the insecure behavior of employees.
The wide use of AI poses a popular question for both organizational leaders and professionals—how is AI going to affect tech jobs and requirements? While AI will certainly change the landscape of many jobs, it is not anywhere near a point where it can replace human intelligence and behavior. It will, however, transform the jobs that we do, and the skills required to do them. “The future is about how people and AI will complement each other,” says Bob. “Tech professionals will need to upskill as technologies evolve, and at the same time, companies will need to adapt their hiring strategies to ensure they are recruiting the right people for today—and the future.”
According to Gartner, by 2025 lack of talent or human failure will be responsible for over half of significant cyberattacks. This means IT leaders must ensure people are in place that understand AI threats and know how to take preventative action. “The next generation of cybersecurity professionals are going to need to have a strong AI background and be able to understand the intricacies of the evolving technology. Many cybersecurity professionals have yet to be exposed to working in an environment where companies are using AI, but that is soon going to change as more companies adopt it as a business necessity, rather than a competitive advantage.”
It is no doubt that companies today need the right talent and skills in place to be a few steps ahead of cybercriminals. “Due to a skills shortage, we’re seeing many of our clients cross-skill their current AI and cybersecurity employees, rather than trying to hire cybersecurity experts skilled in AI. However, professionals with these skillsets do exist, and the field will continue to grow as AI evolves,” says Bob. Typically, if an organization does not have the resources to be strategic with the technical hiring process, they’ll partner with a staffing and recruiting company who specializes in unique hiring needs and has access to a growing pipeline of qualified technical talent.
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