56% of Business Leaders Are Incorporating AI Into Cybersecurity: Weekly Stat

Cybersecurity, a concept once equated to insurance by many CFOs, remains increasingly important when businesses embrace new technology or platforms. With the cloud, businesses can access real-time data and collect more customer information. But the integrity of processes that protect data has become paramount to any business operating in the modern technological landscape.

With new technologies like AI, for example, business leaders are scrambling to understand the basics of these offerings and how they can best leverage them. But with increased reliance on technology comes increased exposure to hackers. Unregulated new technologies are just as attractive to scammers as they are to finance and business leaders.

According to new data from Kroll, which surveyed 400 global business leaders, the biggest impact of AI outside of automation and remedial duties may be within the cybersecurity realm. In the advisory firm’s 2023 fraud and financial crime report, surveyors reported that more than half (56%) of business leaders are using AI in their latest cybersecurity efforts.

Increasing Crime and Spending

Hackers are looking for those who expand their tech stack without considering the cybersecurity implications. The data shows that almost 69% of business leaders believe that financial crime will increase in the next 12 months.

“The survey results show that companies are facing a perfect storm as the risks of financial crime increase and become more complex,” said David Lewis, global head of anti-money laundering (AML ) advisory for Kroll. “[Business leaders] are not fully confident in the effectiveness of their defenses and will undoubtedly rush to adopt technology to solve all their problems.

AI-inspired products within the cybersecurity space, early in their launch, will be a hot commodity in the data protection community. According to the findings, more than two-thirds (67%) of business leaders plan to invest in new technologies within these areas.

Tools in the mix include fraud monitoring technology (91%), customer identification and verification databases (87%), and AML transaction monitoring (86%).

Customer onboarding, which can be overlooked when analyzing cybersecurity impacts, is an important point for the role of AI in cybersecurity. Using AI to detect abnormalities in onboarding processes proactively means a breach can be stopped before it starts. Proactive AI-powered initiatives like this help identify potential scammers.

Crypto and Blockchain Hesitancy

In conversations around AI that are all too familiar with the hype and described disruption of blockchain technology, business leaders have many different assessments of the two pieces of technology from a risk perspective. Although blockchain technology promises the same things as automation, transparency, and sophistication, more than three-quarters (78%) of those surveyed said that the financial crime risks of cryptocurrency are a source of anxiety.

“In the face of this dynamically evolving landscape, the role of the fulfillment function remains more important than ever,” said Haydn Jones, Kroll’s global head of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology solutions. “As we look to the future, the complex interplay between technologies of all kinds, geopolitics, and financial crime means specialist skills are needed to navigate the data-driven future.”

The rapid development of technologies like blockchain and AI seem to be some of the biggest concerns for law enforcement officials, too. According to the data, nearly six in 10 (59%) business leaders believe they are the cause of governments’ struggles to combat data thieves. As governments catch up, the burden of data protection falls on executive teams managing to balance innovation with integrity.

Cybersecurity and ESG

Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) standards, an area that CFOs report feeling pressure to comply with, have cybersecurity barriers. Relying largely on source-number data and creating narratives that surveyors call “ESG stories,” these datasets, limited as they are, can be indefensible.

Green crimes, or ESG-related crimes that may overlap with cybersecurity because of their reliance on data, are new phenomena that Kroll warns are too new to develop formal ones. strategy against.

According to US business leaders in the survey, their data issues around ESG are within the lack of ESG data in general. The findings show that 68% of US business leaders cite limited data on their ESG issues, with another 64% saying a lack of transparency and regulation is to blame.

Green crimes, or ESG-related crimes that may overlap with cybersecurity due to their reliance on data are new phenomena that Kroll warns are too soon to develop formal strategies against. According to Kroll, business leaders should be aware of the signs of ESG-related crimes occurring within their organizations.

Organizations with ESG boards that are inexperienced in the industry or companies with higher profit margins than others in the same sector may be indicators that ESG is being used as a front for fraud. , advise Kroll experts.