Study Finds “AI-Fueled Attacks Are Not Just Sci-Fi”
Darktrace, the cyber AI (Artificial Intelligence) company, recently announced that a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Darktrace finds the majority of security leaders are preparing for AI-powered cyber-attacks. 88% of respondents think offensive AI is inevitable, with almost half of respondents anticipating the industry will see these attacks in the next year. With AI-powered attacks on the horizon, the report notes it “will be crucial to use AI as a force multiplier…”
Security decision-makers across a variety of industries, including retail, financial services, and manufacturing, were surveyed on the speed of attacks, the impacts of offensive AI, and businesses’ security strategies in the face of advanced threats.
Key findings include:
- 88% of security leaders think offensive AI is inevitable
- 77% of respondents expect weaponized AI to lead to an increase in the scale and speed of attacks, while 66% felt that it would lead to novel attacks that no human could envision
- 75% of respondents cited system/business disruption as their top concern about weaponized AI
- Over 80% of cybersecurity decision-makers agree that organizations require advanced cybersecurity defenses to combat offensive AI
Max Heinemeyer, Director of Threat Hunting at Darktrace, commented: “I head up a team at Darktrace’s R&D Center in Cambridge, where we’re conducting research into AI attacks – securely developing offensive AI and using it to test and strengthen Darktrace’s algorithms. Businesses need to implement cyber AI for defense now before offensive AI becomes mainstream. When it becomes a war of algorithms against algorithms, only autonomous response will be able to fight back at machine speeds to stop AI-augmented attacks.”
The study similarly calls for AI defenses: “If an organization is not operating with AI-enabled defenses to counter AI-enabled attacks, how can it expect to win? The goal is to fight these advanced attacks with advanced tactics that detect, interpret, and respond to the threat before it has a chance to make an impact.”
Download the report from here: The Emergence Of Offensive AI
