The proliferation of security tools combined with the growing threats posed by the accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) should create even more opportunities for channels to help users address these challenges.
A recent study by deep observability expert Gigamon highlights the growing threat posed by AI and the need for customers to respond faster to maintain a strong security posture.
For channels, the takeaway from this research is to reconsider simply throwing more point products at customer problems and consider increasing visibility as a way to ensure they can overcome threats and leverage the power of the products they’ve already invested in.
Mark Jow, technical evangelist EMEA at Gigamon, said customers are recognizing the need to move faster to address emerging AI threats.
“The disconnect between people’s stated confidence in their ability to use and apply AI and their confidence in their ability to maintain a robust security posture was not entirely consistent with the number of breaches and repeat breaches they told us,” he said.
He added that while traditionally separate departments would obtain products touted by vendors as ideal solutions to solve problems, they are now faced with “tool sprawl” and are looking to channels to help manage them.
“Many organizations are moving in that direction, and many are recognizing that deep observability is a key part of their solution,” Zhou said. “But many of them are not moving there fast enough and must resist the temptation to keep adding tools and instead start focusing on deploying a foundational platform with deep observability across their environments.”
He agreed that AI is both a threat and an opportunity for channel partners who have developed expertise in this field, saying, “If managed, applied, implemented and evolved in the right way, AI represents far more of an opportunity than a threat.
“That said, if you don’t start looking at some things from a different perspective than how we use security and AI today, sooner or later it will become your master and you will become its slave,” he added.
He said the growth of shadow IT, which revolves around the use of AI tools, shows that trying to block technology is not the answer. Partners needed to work with customers to take advantage of the latest technology without increasing risk.
“The last thing modern organizations want is to take a strict ‘must not use’ approach, because for every organization that does something like that, there’s another organization that doesn’t. At some level, whether it’s productivity, intellectual property rights, staff development, someone has gained a competitive advantage by doing it,” he said.
Zhou said partners that can gain insight into their customers’ infrastructure are best placed to provide guidance on risk management.
“I say to many of our channel partners, ‘Imagine watching a three-hour Hollywood blockbuster without sound,'” he said. “If it’s a big action [film]you can get the gist of what’s going on. You might think you know the plot, and you can also pick up on certain conversations people are having from their body language, like whether they’re going to get shot or not, or whether they’re going to jump into bed together. But we won’t know until we get the soundtrack. It’s only when you have the soundtrack that you can really discern and define what’s going on.
“In complex hybrid cloud environments, where AI comes in, comes out, and is used across the organization, without a soundtrack. [are in trouble]” he added.
