AI, like many things, is a double-edged sword. It has enabled cybercriminals to generate more successful attacks at greater speed and scale than ever before. At the same time, it has provided organizations with powerful tools to boost their security posture.
AI-powered phishing and social engineering attacks are becoming virtually impossible for humans to detect, putting organizations at greater risk of ransomware and other threats. AI also enables hackers to break more passwords through brute force. According to Microsoft, password attacks increased twelvefold in just three years, from 579 per second in 2021 to 7,000 per second in 2024.
This threat landscape has made AI an essential element of an effective security strategy. Smart organizations are leveraging AI-powered tools to combat the latest attacks at machine speed while giving human security analysts the insight needed to bolster the organization’s defenses.
Addressing the Security Talent Gap
One of the greatest security challenges organizations face is the lack of qualified talent. According to a 2024 report by the World Economic Forum, more than 4 million more security professionals are needed to meet current demand. The Forum predicts that the shortage will exceed 85 million workers by 2030 and cost $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual revenue.
AI can play a role in narrowing this talent gap. It enables IT teams to automate common tasks such as vulnerability scanning and patch management so human security analysts can focus on more complex issues. AI-powered tools can also provide faster, more accurate threat detection. These tools can learn the normal behavior of users, devices and networks and quickly identify patterns and anomalies that humans might miss.
Of course, human analysts are still needed and gen AI can help them keep their knowledge up to date. Generative AI tools can also provide flexible cybersecurity training for upskilling and reskilling existing staff.
Faster, More Proactive Security
AI can maximize the value of threat intelligence by collecting, correlating and analyzing data from a wider range of sources than humans can. This helps security teams predict potential attacks and prioritize alerts so they can focus on the most critical threats. AI can also analyze past attacks to help security teams identify and address weaknesses before they’re exploited. Attack simulations can test the resilience of security systems.
While attackers are using AI to generate more effective phishing campaigns, organizations can use it for more effective email filtering. Machine learning tools that have been trained to identify the signs of malicious emails can analyze a wide range of factors in real time. Fewer phishing emails reach users’ inboxes, reducing the risk of a successful attack.
Because it’s impossible to prevent every attack, rapid incident response is essential. When a threat is detected, AI-powered tools can automatically take steps to block the attack and contain the damage. This might include quarantining affected systems, preventing ransomware from contacting its command-and-control server or alerting the security team.
More Intelligent Automation
Agentic AI is taking these capabilities to the next level. Agents add an orchestration element to AI-powered automation. Humans set the goals and the agents determine the best way to achieve those goals based on real-time conditions. In the cybersecurity context, agentic AI can flag unusual activity, coordinate incident response and track adherence to security policies across the IT environment.
AI agents do create new security challenges, as we noted in a previous post. In a recent Salesforce survey, however, 80 percent of security leaders said they believe that AI agents also create opportunities to improve security.
In short, AI is a force multiplier in cybersecurity, and the Cerium team is here to help you take advantage of AI-powered security tools to combat the latest threats. We are also using AI to increase the effectiveness of our managed security services. Let’s discuss how AI-powered security plus Cerium’s managed services can boost your security posture.
