The huge rise in AI and ML transactions are putting businesses at risk

News
By
published

The bigger the usage, the bigger the threat, Zscaler warns

generative ai business use
(Image credit: Shutterstock / thanmano)

AI, together with its Generative AI counterpart, has already found its place in the average enterprise. However, using the tools comes with serious security risks which businesses must learn how to manage and minimize, or it will come back to haunt them.

These are the conclusions of the “2024 AI Security Report” from Zscaler, which noted AI is now “business as usual,” with enterprises leveraging and integrating new features and tools into their day-to-day workflows. 

This is clearly visible from the volume of transactions and data generated, with a 600% increase in transactions, as 569 terabytes of enterprise data is sent to AI tools, between September 2023, and January 2024. 

Numerous risks

Of all the different enterprises using AI tools, those in manufacturing are at the very tip of the spear, as they account for more than 20% of all AI/ML transactions, Zscaler further stated. They are followed by finance and insurance (17%), technology (14%), services sectors (13%), and retail/wholesale (5%).

But enterprises must be careful not to leak sensitive data or create other risks. Zscaler says that the utilization of Generative AI introduces risk of intellectual property, or non-public information leakage; a bigger attack surface, new threat delivery vectors and increased supply chain risks; and the risk of generating data of poor quality.

“Simultaneously, enterprises are constantly exposed to a barrage of cyberthreats, some of which are now AI-driven,” the researchers stated. “To address this challenge, enterprises and cybersecurity leaders must effectively navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape to harness its revolutionary potential while also mitigating the risks and defending against AI-powered attacks.”

To protect their premises against AI-borne threats, enterprises should use tools that give full visibility into AI tool usage, granular access policy creation for AI, granular data security for AI applications, and powerful controls with browser isolation, Zscaler concludes.

More from TechRadar Pro

Sead Fadilpašić

Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.