AI Tops Security Concerns—in More Ways Than One: March TechPulse Results
The IBM Power community is closely monitoring the progress of AI as they prepare for emerging security threats, viewing both AI-assisted attacks and the exploitation of AI systems as top security concerns, according to results of the March TechPulse survey on cybersecurity. Meanwhile, the looming threat of quantum decryption also weighs heavily on their minds. Security is also a major consideration in hardware upgrade decisions, according to the survey results. Additionally, many shops may be leaving themselves open to disruptions due to the decentralized nature of their forms and labeling solutions.
The top two emerging security concerns both involve AI.
AI-assisted attacks (33%) were respondents’ top concern, but just behind that on the list of worries was exploitation of AI systems (31%). Quantum security (26%) emerged as the other main concern, as security staff prepare for the day the technology will be able to break modern encryption.
Security is a big part of the hardware upgrade calculus.
Security has considerable influence in most respondents’ upgrade decisions. Seventy-two percent said security was either the primary driver, a secondary factor or balanced with several other considerations in their upgrade plans.
Time constraints, system complexity and compliance requirements are common hindrances to security implementations.
The biggest impediments to security implementations had to do with technical complexity or system incompatibility (49%), limitations in time and resources for testing and deployment (45%) and varying compliance standards across global teams. Lack of skilled personnel or staffing shortages were also commonly cited impediments.
PC installations for forms and labeling solutions are common, jeopardizing continuity and accuracy in the event of a cyber incident.
Forty-seven percent of respondents said their forms and labeling solutions are installed at least partly on PCs, leaving systems vulnerable to syncing issues involving data sources and version control. Forty-eight percent said their forms and labeling solutions are entirely centrally managed on IBM i.
