Seventy three percent Indian organisations plan to harness generative AI (GenAI) within the next 12 months to enhance security measures and align IT objectives with broader business goals. But only 8% of them demonstrate high confidence in effectively implementing GenAI technologies, according to a study commissioned by Tenable.
The study identified two major challenges hindering Indian organisations from utilising or optimising AI technologies: a lack of technological maturity (71%) and uncertainty about the applicability of AI within their operations (54%).
The study further highlighted that many organisations, 40%, perceive GenAI as a greater security threat than opportunity. The sentiment reflects widespread apprehension regarding cybersecurity risks associated with GenAI implementation.
Internal misuse of GenAI emerged as a prominent concern, with 67% of respondents expressing worry about potential misuse within their organisations. Additionally, 60% of respondents say that providing sensitive data to open-source GenAI puts them at risk of intellectual property theft.
However, security and IT leaders in the country are optimistic about the potential benefits of GenAI, with 31% saying they believe genAI can enhance preventive threat response. Additionally, 42% think it can automate security measures, and 40% feel it can improve actionability, the study found.
Indian organisations are also vary of the impact of data used to train AI models. 73% of Indian organisations agree or strongly agree that the success of generative AI heavily relies on the data used to fuel it.
“Despite the rise of AI, many Indian businesses are still developing their technology maturity and often lack the resources or skills needed to properly create, train, and implement AI, as well as maintain high standards of data governance,” Nigel Ng, Senior Vice President, Tenable APJ, said.
The use of cloud services, virtualisation platforms, microservices, applications, and code libraries introduces additional challenges that are prompting security professionals in India to explore the best ways to leverage AI for preventive security efforts, Nigel adds.
The study is based on an online survey conducted by Forrester Consulting and includes responses from 826 IT and cybersecurity professionals including 52 Indian respondents at large enterprises in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the UK and US.
