AI in Cybersecurity: The Good and the Bad

The security industry can do a better job of promoting emerging technologies in security environments by linking their solutions to measurable outcomes that matter to CISOs. Those outcomes could be to either reduce sales friction or to show measurable progress in key risk indicators that board members care about. For example, while according to the recent “The Impact of Technology in 2025 and Beyond: an IEEE Global Study,” 48% of technologists said that the top application for AI in 2025 will be real-time cybersecurity vulnerability identification and attack prevention, vendors should still be prepared to explain how investments in their solutions can produce progress over time and support agreed-upon business objectives, outside of the technical benefits. Unfortunately, most emerging technologies primarily discuss technical benefits and features, not business outcomes. For example, if a CISO cares about multifactor authentication coverage, vendors should explain how their solution improves coverage and ties that to higher business resiliency. That would also reduce friction in B2B sales where a high degree of MFA coverage could be cited as a key control in a SOC 2 type 2 report, for example.

Cybersecurity is a game of cat and mouse. As a threat hunter, you’re the cat. “This role is close to that of a field biologist, as the threat hunter observes their prey – third party attackers – in the wild,” says Kayne McGladrey, director of information security services at Integral Partners, a cybersecurity firm whose specialty is identity and access management, and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. “Threat hunters set traps and snares that appeal to (cybercriminals) and lead to fake computers where the threat hunter can monitor an attacker’s behavior before shutting down the breach.”

According to IEEE Member and Integral Partners Director of Information Security Services, Kayne McGladrey, healthcare sectors embody “Lean IT” as they are not in the cybersecurity line of business.

Although motivations like that mean any organization using AI could be a victim, Kayne McGladrey, a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a nonprofit professional association, and field CISO at Hyperproof, says he expects hackers will be more likely to target the tech companies making and training AI systems.

But CISOs shouldn’t breathe a sigh of relief, McGladrey says, as their organizations could be impacted by those attacks if they are using the vendor-supplied corrupted AI systems.