The Growing Opportunity Cost of Poor Cybersecurity

Last week, the UK hosted the global ‘AI Safety Summit’ which addressed the growing concern over AI powered cybersecurity attacks, among many other topics. This comes as experts in the field predict AI’s impact on humanity is becoming less and less positive. Furthermore, with the development of quantum computing systems, and the power they will provide individuals, users must look to modern protection tools to keep data and systems safe.

Barclays reports that an 8% global spike in cyberattacks can be attributed to the growing use of AI technology. Cybercriminals are beginning to harness the power of AI to produce hyper-targeted attacks. Once hackers become sophisticated in manipulating AI’s power for malicious uses, attacks could become much worse.

The threat comes mainly from the ability to automate tasks at a large scale through AI. Vulnerabilities can be located at greater speeds and efficiencies with machine learning. An example is the automatic generation of phishing emails that currently take time and human input. With the power of automation, these emails can be highly targeted without human instruction.

The threat of quantum-powered hacking, via the use of quantum computers, is also growing. These computers can harness quantum mechanics to perform algorithmic calculations at exponentially faster speeds than normal, modern computers. Although in the early stages of development, this may pose a large threat to institutions including government organisations that require significant protection of classified data.

Companies worried about their cybersecurity should stay alert and dedicate the required resources to staying safe. As much as cybercriminals will seek to exploit new technologies, cybersecurity professionals will research and create new solutions to improve security.