According to the Global Application and Network Security Report from Radware, US and European executives place broad trust in artificial intelligence and machine learning systems, designed to protect organizations from more dynamic, pernicious cyberthreats. The report shows:
- Adoption of AI/Machine Learning: Security automation has now reached an inflection point—with about four in five (81 percent) of the executives reported having already or recently implemented more reliance on automated solutions. Some 57 percent of executives report trusting automated systems as much or more than humans to protect their organizations. Two in five (38 percent) executives indicated that within two years, automated security systems would be the primary resource for managing cybersecurity.
- Security is a Board-Level Concern: The majority of respondents (85 percent) said that security threats are a CEO- or board-level concern in their company. Among all respondents, 94 percent told us that security is an extremely or very important priority. About three in five (62 percent) rate it “extremely important,” marking a slight increase from last year, when just 53 percent did so.
- Security is a Main Driver for Digital Transformation: Organizations are actively integrating digital technologies—and that cybersecurity is the number-one driver of their digital transformation. Nearly half of all executives (47 percent) cited improving information security as a major goal of their digital transformation. What’s more, for three-quarters of organizations, cybersecurity considerations were critical in shaping decisions to transform aspects of the business to digital.
- The Next Likely Targets Are: Executives believe that the biggest security threats in the next three to five years are network infrastructure (27 percent) followed by Internet of Things (IoT) (22 percent) devices and Energy/Power Infrastructure (21 percent).
Executives’ Biggest Concern During a Cyberattack? Their Customers
Chief among executives’ worries about cyberattacks is a negative customer experience, which 39 percent of executives ranked as the top impact to their business from a security threat. Brand reputation loss (36 percent) was close behind, followed by operational and customer loss (both 29 percent) and revenue loss (34 percent).
Executives Do Not Believe Their Governments Do Enough to Protect Consumer Privacy
Executives around the world agree that government plays a role in compromising digital security. Two-thirds of executives (67 percent) agree that current laws and legislation related to information security compromise individual privacy, and 79 percent of executives feel their government should do more to protect personal information.
European Executives Are More Likely to Hire Ex-Hackers than Their U.S. Counterparts
In Europe, 58 percent said they were very or extremely likely to do so, while just 27 percent of U.S. executives said the same. One-quarter of U.S. executives said their company was not very likely to hire former hackers, and 36 percent said their organization was somewhat likely to do so.