Gartner reveals key GenAI cybersecurity trends in 2024

Organizations, governments, academics, and many others are exploring ways to harness the transformative power of GenAI technology. The majority of IT leaders (67%) will prioritize GenAI in the next 18 months. While there is great excitement about the prospects of GenAI, there are also concerns, including uncertainty about GenAI’s impact on cybersecurity on multiple fronts.

To help us better understand the key trends in cybersecurity and enable us to make informed decisions to reduce cybersecurity risks, Market Research firm Gartner unveiled its cybersecurity predictions and recommendations at the recent Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit.

2024 is expected to be another great year for GenAI, so it’s no surprise that many of Gartner’s predictions are related to GenAI technology.

Gartner points out that the use of GenAI will strengthen the skills gap and minimize the occurrence of human-like cognitive security incidents by 2028. This has the potential to change the way businesses are organized and how cybersecurity professionals are trained. Gartner recommends that when enterprises look for the right talent for more critical cybersecurity roles, cybersecurity teams should focus on internal applications to facilitate employees.

According to Gartner Principal Analyst Deepti Gopal, we are gradually moving beyond the potential of GenAI, and practical opportunities are emerging to help solve some of the long-term problems plaguing cybersecurity, especially skills. Shortage and unsafe human behavior. This year's most important predictions have nothing to do with technology, as the human element continues to gain more attention.

Gartner predicts that by 2026, enterprises that integrate GenAI and Security Behavior and Culture Programs (SBCP) into a platform architecture may reduce their workforce by up to 40%. security incident.

Personalized employee engagement and often an important component of effective SBCP, GenAI can generate personalized content and training materials based on employees’ unique attributes.

Cybersecurity leaders may face personal legal risks due to new laws and regulations, according to Gartner. It is predicted that by 2027, two-thirds of the Global 100 companies will provide directors and officers (D&O) insurance for cybersecurity leaders.

Gartner highlights the opportunity for security and risk management (SRM) leaders to leverage GenAI to proactively collaborate with other business stakeholders to improve overall enterprise cybersecurity performance. This should include taking a human-centric approach, leveraging GenAI to reskill existing security talent to augment rather than replace humans.

Many reports have highlighted the staggering costs of data breaches, including an IBM study that showed the average global cost of a data breach in 2023 will be $4.45 million, three times higher It increased by 15% year ago.

Gartner shares its predictions of the huge costs of combating disinformation. According to Gartner, companies will spend more than $500 billion fighting disinformation, accounting for more than 50% of cybersecurity and marketing budgets.

While enterprises are using GenAI to improve their cybersecurity performance, the same technology is also being used by bad actors to create and spread highly effective malicious messages. To mitigate this threat, Gartner recommends that chief information security officers (CISOs) clearly define the responsibilities of the enterprise's anti-malware program and invest in tools and technology that address this issue.

GenAI applications may exacerbate security and privacy risks as large language models (LLMs) consume large amounts of data and create even more new data. Organizations will have to deploy a multifaceted approach to create a responsible AI framework. Additionally, stakeholders need to come together to comprehensively assess the impact of GenAI on enterprise cybersecurity and find solutions to address the issues.