A report by cybersecurity firm Darktrace revealed that 71% of businesses across the UK have been affected by an AI-related cyber incident.
Despite facing the third highest number of attacks in the world, Darktrace State of AI Cybersecurity Report The survey revealed that 95% of security leaders currently lack confidence in their ability to defend against all types of threats, however, nearly all respondents (98%) believe that AI-powered solutions could help significantly improve their defenses.
The UK's current cybersecurity landscape sees businesses facing the reality of impending cyber attacks and a lack of preparedness. As a result, organisations are prioritising AI tools within their security stack to improve their overall cyber readiness, says Darktrace.
The UK is currently highly vulnerable to cyber attacks
According to the Darktrace report, 92% of respondents expect cyber threats to continue to affect their organizations in the foreseeable future, with those surveyed particularly concerned that these threats will ultimately lead to an increase in the volume and sophistication of exploits targeting known vulnerabilities.
Despite this high level of awareness of the threat, Darktrace noted that respondents lack confidence in their companies' ability to defend against AI-enabled attacks: Similarly, 48% feel their companies are unprepared.
AI-enabled cyber attacks have increased in frequency in recent months and threat actors' tactics have become more sophisticated, further exposing business vulnerabilities and potentially allowing these actors to compromise sensitive data, with potentially devastating consequences for day-to-day operations.
Additionally, the Internet of Things (IoT) and the rise of interconnected devices increases the risk as they may become more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
This lack of preparedness felt by UK businesses is a challenge, especially as the UK has faced significant data breaches in recent months, including high-profile attacks on the NHS and the BBC. The UK is also currently one of the most targeted countries after the US and Ukraine, with half of UK businesses expected to experience some kind of breach in 2023.
Taking a more global view, Darktrace found that other countries feel even less prepared to defend against AI-enabled threats, with Japan feeling the least prepared (90%) based on their current security capabilities, followed by Australia (78%), Germany (78%), Netherlands (73%), Singapore (72%), UAE (71%), Spain (59%), France (54%) and the US (54%).
Businesses need to be proactive about cybersecurity
To thwart AI-driven threats, Darktrace advises that companies must actually harness the power of AI to defend their operations, and most respondents are optimistic that this will help reduce the attack surface.
According to the report, 64% of businesses consider adding AI-powered security tools to complement their existing solutions a top priority, as they hope the technology will help them better defend against malicious AI activity.
Overall, more than three-quarters (79%) of respondents consider reducing the cost and complexity of their cybersecurity stack a key goal for their organization.
Darktrace states that AI-powered solutions can help improve cyber preparedness by enabling security teams to take a more proactive approach to cyber security. Security teams and AI can work together to protect the business and improve resilience. With this in mind, 65% of UK-based security professionals surveyed are confident that AI-powered solutions can automatically stop AI-enabled threats, reducing alert fatigue and freeing up time for security teams to consider broader security strategies.
The benefits that AI brings to businesses include automating time-consuming tasks, improving strategic thinking in security teams, and planning lines of defense to effectively counter threat activity.
