AI Impacting Data Protection

The AI promises of today..... may become the cybersecurity perils of tomorrow. AI is definitely impacting the landscape of data protection! It is a complex and evolving story, with both positive and negative implications for the job of protecting data.

AI’s positive implications are

# Talent: AI will alleviate skills gaps while creating new functions, such as prompt engineering.

# Data privacy: With AI and the use of large language models is introducing new data privacy concerns with the business houses.

# Cyberattacks: As cybercriminals look to leverage AI, expect to see new forms of attacks, such as commercial and economic disinformation campaigns.

# Collaboration: Security, IT and engineering functions will work more closely together to survive new attack vectors and more sophisticated threats made possible by AI.

The Negative Impacts are:

# Job Displacement: Automation brought by AI could potentially lead to job losses for some data security professionals, particularly those focused on routine tasks. However, it's likely that new roles will emerge requiring skills in managing, interpreting, and overseeing AI-powered security systems.

# Bias and Explainability: AI algorithms can perpetuate biases present in the data they are trained on, leading to discrimination or unfair security practices. It's crucial to ensure AI-powered security solutions are developed and deployed ethically, with a focus on transparency and explainability.

# Over reliance on Technology: Dependence on AI-powered security tools can create a false sense of security and encourage complacency. Human oversight and critical thinking remain essential for effective data protection.

Overall, AI is a powerful tool with the potential to revolutionize data protection. However, it is important to approach it with awareness of its limitations and potential pitfalls. The future of data protection lies in a collaborative approach, where humans and AI work together to build a resilient and comprehensive security ecosystem.

At the same time, Gen AI is something that helps users to be more efficient and effective in keeping up with the cyber risks. It’s still early and we’re still trying to understand how the technology can be used for good as well as for harm and everybody needs to contextualize that in their own businesses.