Just before ChatGPT’s first birthday (Nov. 30), a report from Fastly highlights the fact that many organizations view generative AI as a growing cybersecurity threat. Data breaches and data loss (40%), identity-based threats such as malware and phishing (38%), and generative AI (29%) are viewed as the biggest cybersecurity threats over the next 12 months, according to this year’s Fastly Global Security Research report, a survey of 1,484 IT decision makers in organizations with more than 500 employees around the world. Even with generative AI making the list of top three cybersecurity threats over the next 12 months, it was clear from the report that generative AI is viewed as both a positive and negative development. Respondents say generative AI would increase productivity (43%), ensure the business is more protected against cyber threats (42%), and ensure employees are trained in cybersecurity fundamentals (36%). On the negative side, there are fears that generative AI will open new avenues for attack (67%) and put businesses at greater risk of attacks (58%). Almost half, or 46%, are concerned that their security teams do not have experience with new and emerging technologies and threats such as generative AI. To mitigate these risks, organizations are focused on developing and enforcing a company-wide policy (34%) and training employees to recognize associated risks (34%). The IT decision makers — two-thirds of them directly make or influence cybersecurity decisions—in the survey seem to anticipate the same kinds of threats that impacted their organizations over the past year will continue to bedevil them over the next 12 months, according to the report.
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