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“Many sectors have mixed feelings towards AI and machine learning. For cybersecurity, perhaps more than for any other industry, it is a genuine double-edged sword. For cybersecurity professionals, AI is a powerful instrument that expedites and improves many processes, such as automated security processing and threat detection. However, we must remember that bad actors have the very same toolsets available for their criminal activity. It is proving to be a constant cat-and-mouse game between these two parties in the same way that it has been with cyber defenders and attackers since the earliest days of the internet.

First things first, AI can make cyberattacks much more sophisticated and therefore harder to stop. An all-too-common example is phishing. With the help of AI, cybercriminals can write extremely believable phishing emails in any language, aimed at whatever type of person they wish to target. The same is true of voice phishing: AI bots only need a few seconds of audio material to credibly replicate a person’s voice, making it simpler than ever to fake calls with the purpose of extortion.

Faced with the dangers this poses, businesses must double down on their security awareness training efforts. These must become regularly and systematically updated sessions which every employee is mandated to take. Overall, businesses should be encouraging their staff to cultivate a critical mindset when it comes to internal and external communications and not immediately trust any sender, whether unfamiliar or not.

For cybersecurity organisations, using AI is no longer an optional improvement, but an absolute necessity. Considering the rise of AI-enhanced cyberattacks, the only way to maintain enterprise security is by incorporating AI into threat recognition systems in order to cope with the increasing sophistication and intelligence of cybercriminal techniques. You must fight fire with fire – or risk being left behind.”