In October, I had the opportunity to attend the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) conference in Chicago. My team and I were surrounded by security professionals from other organizations to learn about the latest research and developments when it comes to keeping our clients secure and prepared to face today’s greatest threats.  

One of the topics of the conference was Artificial Intelligence (AI) Security. Incorporating AI technology into your organization can be intimidating, especially with how quickly it’s evolving. At times, it may seem like the easiest option to avoid adopting new technology, but, when used correctly, AI technology can be an asset to your organization, improving security and, at times, efficiency.  

Facing Reality: We Need AI 

Cybersecurity threats are constantly evolving and becoming more common. They are becoming overwhelming and nearly impossible for security teams to manage on their own.  

AI can be one solution to this onslaught of threats organizations are facing. New AI technology can help identify suspicious login attempts, mitigate phishing attacks, and help prevent fraud. By implementing AI technology, some of the pressure security teams are experiencing may be alleviated.  

Not only are security threats becoming more common but they are also growing in expense. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach is over $4.35M globally, and $9.44M nationally. However, the biggest cost savings were due to deploying incident response, XDR, and AI/automation.  

Breach costs at organizations with fully developed security AI/automation had an average $3.05M less than organizations with no security AI/automation deployed.  

Three cost amplifying factors for data breaches today include: 

  1. Compliance Failures—Compliance enhances and confirms security. Without it, your organization is left at risk. 
  1. System Complexity—The more complex your system is, the more likely a breach will occur without the proper encryption.   
  1. Cloud Migration—Cloud migration allows for vulnerabilities within your environment, making a data breach more likely to occur.  

IBM reports that the number one way to help mitigate the above vulnerabilities is through the implementation of AI platforms. Although AI may not solve all your organization’s problems and vulnerabilities, it can certainly strengthen your defenses and help mitigate risk.  

Trustworthy Technology 

Practical uses for AI technology can be challenging to identify, especially with the differing opinions and research surrounding the topic. However, in his presentation, “The Evolution of AI Security,” Michael Melore from IBM believes organizations have a great opportunity for growth when adopting AI technology. He highlighted five things to look for when identifying and developing trustworthy AI. 

  1. The technology should be transparent and open to inspection. 
  1. The technology should be explainable and easy to understand outcomes and decisions. 
  1. The technology should be fair and impartial, having mitigated any bias. 
  1. The technology needs to be robust and able to handle exceptional conditions effectively and minimize security risk. 
  1. The technology should be private and fueled by high integrity data that is business compliant. 

By keeping these factors in mind, we can start to identify trustworthy AI and leverage it to benefit our organizations. So, what are some tangible ways AI can help make your job easier?  

There are a plethora of ways you can leverage AI when working to secure your organization. Here are a few examples: 

  • Use AI to automate invoices and follow-ups. 
  • Use AI for threat hunting, analysis, and insights, analysis, and insights.   
  • Use AI to gather compliance evidence to assist in your upcoming SOC 2 audit. 
  • Use AI to help compile the latest versions of your organization’s policies or logs.   

Just as Melore mentioned, there are ways to create and leverage trustworthy AI technology that will become invaluable to your organization. Remember, automation should assist your compliance efforts, not replace your manual efforts. 

At KirkpatrickPrice, we are working to incorporate trustworthy AI technology into our OAM (Online Audit Manager). We envision a day when our integrations and automations will assist our clients with organizing their evidence as they prepare for their next compliance audit. 

Still wondering if implementing more AI technology will benefit your organization?  

I mentioned earlier that AI is somewhat of a controversial topic. Although AI may not be right for every security function within your organization, when built correctly and used hand-in-hand with human intuition, it can be an asset to your organization’s security.  

At KirkpatrickPrice, we care about helping you become unstoppable in your compliance journey. Connect with a KirkpatrickPrice security expert today to talk more about how we can help your organization meet its security and compliance goals.