A spike in the rate of major data breaches affecting companies has prompted excitement and skepticism about generative artificial intelligence (AI), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Taiwan said in a survey released yesterday.
Thirty-six percent of firms it surveyed were affected by data breaches last year that cost at least US$1 million apiece, up from 27 percent a year earlier, the survey showed.
While there is excitement about the development of cutting-edge AI security programs, progress on improving security has been sluggish, even stagnant, PwC Taiwan said, citing its survey, which polled 3,876 business and tech leaders in 71 countries.
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Healthcare was the industry most affected by cyberattacks, costing on average US$5.3 million to address the issue, 25 percent higher than the global average of US$4.4 million, PwC Taiwan said.
Forty-seven percent of healthcare organizations surveyed reported a data breach of at least US$1 million, it said.
As a company’s size increases, so does the cost of addressing breaches, it said.
Another surge in cyberthreats might be on the way, because generative AI can compromise e-mail systems at scale, it said.
However, it can also synthesize great volumes of data from an incident to help firms understand what has happened, it said.
The technology can describe complex threats in easy-to-understand language, recommend mitigation strategies and help with investigations, PwC Taiwan said.
With the rise of generative AI, respondents ranked digital threats as the top risks they are prioritizing for mitigation over the next 12 months, the survey found.
Cloud-related threats, attacks on connected devices and hack-and-leak operations were the top three cyber-related threats, it said.
However, more than 33 percent of companies have not instituted risk management efforts, while only 25 percent have upgraded their cyberresilience, it said.
Although cloud attacks are the top concern, about one-third of respondents had no risk management plan to address challenges with their cloud service providers, the survey showed.
Only half were “very satisfied” with their technology capabilities in key cybersecurity areas, while more than 30 percent did not consistently follow standard cyberdefense practices, it said.
Only 2 percent were optimizing and improving across all areas of cyberresilience, PwC Taiwan said.
As for cybertalent strategy, firms would seek to upskill their workforce, rebalance their in-house and outsourced services, and identify the right candidates for openings, it said.
Executives need to be agile to adapt to a changing market and challenge the “status quo” by building security into the fabric of their organization, rather than reacting after a crisis arises, PwC Taiwan added.
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