PRESS RELEASE
SEATTLE – April 3, 2024 – A new investigation by Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to establishing standards, certifications and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, and Google Cloud, found that a notable 55% of organizations surveyed plan to adopt solutions GenAI by next year, signaling a substantial increase in GenAI integration. THE State of AI and Security Survey Report indicates that the push behind the adoption of AI can be attributed largely to C-level executives (82% of respondents pointed to executive leadership as being behind this push), who recognize the competitive advantage it offers in modern business environment.
The study also found that integrating AI into cybersecurity is not just a concept but also a practical reality for many, with 67% of respondents saying they have tested AI specifically for security purposes. When it comes to the ability to leverage AI, 48% of professionals expressed confidence in their organization’s ability to implement a strategy to leverage AI in security, with 28% feeling reasonably confident and 20 % very confident. Given GenAI’s nascent stage in this field, this level of assurance suggests that many professionals may be optimistic about their preparation or overlooking the complexities of AI integration.
“The information shared in this report on how industry experts view and prepare for the evolving role of AI in cybersecurity is critical to navigating this transition and ensuring a resilient, forward-thinking digital infrastructure,” said Hillary Baron, author principal and Senior Technical Research Director, Cloud Security Alliance.
“AI is transforming cybersecurity, offering both exciting opportunities and complex challenges. However, the disconnect between leaders and staff in understanding and implementing AI highlights the need for a strategic, unified approach to successfully integrate this technology,” said Caleb Sima, president of CSA’s AI Safety Initiative .
“Once in a generation, we see the possibility of profound cybersecurity transformation, not just incremental gains. With generative AI, we have the potential to turn the tables on attackers by increasing the capabilities of defenders tenfold. While we must thwart attackers’ use of AI, it is even more important today to continue integrating AI into cyber defenses. The report findings resonate with Google’s Secure AI Framework,” said Phil Venables, CISO, Google Cloud.
Among other key findings from the survey:
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Security professionals are cautiously optimistic about AI. 63% of respondents believe in the potential of AI to improve security measures, particularly in improving threat detection and response capabilities. However, 34% believe AI is more beneficial to security teams, while 31% see it as equally beneficial to both protectors and attackers, and a notable 25% of respondents expressed concern that that AI could be more beneficial to bad actors.
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AI will empower, not replace, security professionals. Only a small portion (12%) of security professionals believe it will completely replace their role. The majority believe this will help improve their skills (30%), support their role overall (28%) or replace a large part of their role (24%), freeing them up for other tasks.
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C-level executives have different perspectives than their staff when it comes to AI. C-levels demonstrate significantly higher self-reported familiarity with AI technologies than their staff. Additionally, senior management reports having a clearer understanding of potential AI use cases, with 51% feeling very clear about this, compared to just 14% of staff.
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2024 will be the year of AI implementation. Over half (55%) of organizations are planning to implement security solutions and tools with GenAI and are exploring a wide range of use cases for these technologies, with the top use cases being rule building (21%) , attack simulation (19%), and compliance violation detection (19%).
Google Cloud commissioned CSA to develop a survey and report to better understand industry knowledge, attitudes and opinions regarding artificial intelligence. Google Cloud funded the project and developed the questionnaire in collaboration with CSA research analysts. The survey was conducted online by CSA in November 2023 and received 2,486 responses from IT and security professionals from organizations of various sizes in the Americas, APAC and EMEA. CSA research analysts performed the data analysis for this report.
Download the State of AI and Security Survey Report.
About the Cloud Security Alliance
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices for ensuring a secure cloud computing environment. CSA leverages the subject matter expertise of industry professionals, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, training, certification, events and products. CSA’s activities, knowledge and broad network benefit the entire cloud community, from suppliers and customers to governments, entrepreneurs and the insurance industry, and provide a forum through which different parties can work together to create and maintain a reliable cloud ecosystem. For more information, visit the site www.cloudsecurityalliance.organd follow us on Twitter @cloudsa.