73% of Indian organizations plan to leverage generative AI (GenAI) in the next 12 months to improve their security posture and align IT goals with broader business objectives, according to a new survey released by Tenable®, Inc. Despite this surge in adoption, the survey also uncovered a worrying trend with only 8% of organizations expressing high confidence in the effective implementation of GenAI technology.
The survey revealed two major challenges preventing Indian organisations from leveraging or optimising AI technologies: lack of maturity of the technology (71%) and uncertainty about the applicability of AI within their operations (54%).
“Despite the rise of AI, many Indian enterprises are still in the process of increasing technology maturity and often lack the resources and skills required to properly create, train and implement AI, and maintain high data governance standards,” said Nigel Ng, senior vice president, Tenable APJ. “Increased use of cloud services, virtualization platforms, microservices, applications and code libraries brings new challenges, including vulnerabilities, cloud misconfigurations, and risks related to identity access, groups and permissions. These factors are driving security professionals in India to explore how best to leverage AI for proactive security measures.”
Data is”How Generative AI can help you discover, analyze, and respond to threats faster” is a commissioned survey of 826 IT and cybersecurity professionals (including 52 Indian respondents) conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Tenable in October 2023. The survey uncovers the growing adoption of generative AI among Indian enterprises, marking a significant shift in strategic focus. It shows growing excitement among security leaders about GenAI's ability to strengthen security posture. However, it also highlights the complexity of the AI integration journey as organizations seek to strike a delicate balance between innovation and potential risks.
One concern that emerged from the survey was that 40% of Indian organizations see GenAI as more of a security threat than an opportunity. This sentiment reflects broader concerns about the cybersecurity risks that come with implementing GenAI. Internal misuse of GenAI emerged as a major concern, with 67% of respondents worried about its potential misuse within their organizations. Additionally, 60% of respondents said that providing sensitive data to open-source GenAI puts them at risk of intellectual property theft.
Despite significant challenges to adopting AI technologies, Indian cybersecurity and IT leaders are optimistic about the potential benefits of generative AI. They see opportunities for improvement in several key areas: 31% believe generative AI can improve threat prevention response, 42% believe it can automate security measures, and 40% feel it can improve actionability.
However, AI is only as effective as the quality of the data used to train it. Recognizing this, 73% of organisations in India agree or strongly agree that the success of generative AI is highly dependent on the data used to fuel it.
“Today, generative AI is primarily used to improve customer experience and operational efficiency. But in the future, GenAI's evolving capabilities could potentially be used for cybersecurity prevention. This shift will have a significant impact on the convergence of IT and security goals, and will heighten the importance of prioritizing AI governance and responsible use of technology,” Ng added.
To harness the full potential of AI, these organizations are focusing on areas such as training and upskilling cybersecurity professionals (63%), implementing automated reporting and alerting systems (46%), and improving fraud detection capabilities (46%).
