A recent study by The Ponemon Institute, sponsored by Aruba Networks, revealed growing reliance on Artificial Intelligence technologies for detecting and stopping attacks that target users and IoT devices.

For the study 4,000 security and IT professionals were surveyed across the Americas, Europe and Asia to understand what makes security deficiencies so hard to fix, and what types of technologies and processes are needed to stay a step ahead of bad actors within the new threat landscape.

Emerging Role of AI

The research revealed that in the quest to protect data and other high-value assets, security systems incorporating machine learning and other AI-based technologies are essential for stopping advanced, targeted attacks. The majority of respondents agreed that security products with AI functionality will help to:

• Reduce false alerts (68%)
• Increase their team’s effectiveness (63%)
• Provide greater investigation efficiencies (60%)
• Advance their ability to more quickly discover and respond to stealthy attacks that have evaded perimeter defense systems (56%)

Twenty-five percent of respondents said they currently use some form of an AI-based security solution, with another 26 percent stating they plan on deploying these types of products within the next 12 months.

Current Security Tools Not Enough

The Ponemon study found that nearly half of respondents said it’s very difficult to protect complex and dynamically changing attack surfaces, especially given the current lack of security staff with the necessary skills and expertise to battle today’s persistent, sophisticated attackers. Against this backdrop, AI-based security tools, which can automate tasks and free up IT personnel to manage other aspects of a security program, were viewed as critical for helping businesses keep up with increasing threat levels.

IoT and Cloud Add Significant Risk

The majority of IT security teams believed that a key gap in their company’s overall security strategy is their inability to identify attacks that use IoT devices as the point of entry. In fact, more than three-quarters of respondents believe their IoT devices are not secure, with 60% stating even simple IoT devices pose a threat. Two-thirds of respondents admitted they have little or no ability to protect their “things” from attacks. Continuous monitoring of network traffic, closed-loop detection and response systems, and detecting behavioral anomalies among peer groups of IoT devices, were cited as the most effective approaches to better protect their environments.

Even the ownership model for IoT security presents potential risk, according to Ponemon. When asked who inside their organization was responsible for IoT security, responses ranged from the CIO, CISO, CTO, and line-of-business leaders, with no majority consensus. Only 33% identified the CIO, with no other executive or functional group achieving response totals above 20%. Surprisingly, “No Function” was the third-highest answer (15%).

Ponemon survey results also highlighted the importance of visibility and the ability to define which resources that people and IoT devices can access, with 63% of respondents stating network access control is an important element of their company’s overall security strategy and critical for reducing the reach of inside exploits. Also cited as important was having detailed information about applications (71%), endpoints (69%), cloud (64%), and networks (63%), with more than half saying they currently deploy network access control solutions for enabling visibility and control across both wired and wireless networks.

Additionally, more than half of respondents said it’s hard to protect expanding and blurring IT perimeters resulting from requirements to concurrently support IoT, BYOD, mobile, and cloud initiatives (55%).

Despite increasing awareness of advanced threats and growing reliance on advanced solutions, the security gap will continue to exist as long as there are highly-trained and well-financed attackers. AI-based security solutions have the potential to empower organizations to finally turn the tide in their favor.

DataLink can source, implement and manage an effective security solution to safeguard your business and give you peace of mind.

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