Nearly half (49%) of global organizations feel more exposed to security breaches because of skills shortages, according to a new Trend Micro study.
The vendor polled 1125 IT decision makers around the world and found that nearly two-thirds (64%) have experienced an increase in attacks over the past year.
The uptick in threats is coming at a bad time, as estimates put the global shortfall of cybersecurity professionals at nearly three million today.
However, AI-based tools could offer new opportunities.
Some 69% of those polled agreed that automating cybersecurity through Artificial Intelligence (AI) could reduce the impact of skills shortages, and a further 63% said they’re actively planning to use such tools.
Trend Micro cybersecurity architect, Ian Heritage, argued that the CISO’s role has never been harder, driving up demand for automated and hosted solutions.
“Protecting the enterprise from cyber-threats is like a game of whack-a-mole,” he added. “Not only do IT and security teams have to maintain constant vigilance of their cyber-defenses, they also have to communicate these risks to business leaders to ensure sufficient budgets, and don their HR hats to recruit the necessary skill sets.”
However, AI is certainly not a silver bullet. A report from 2018 argued that even automated machine learning tools require significant input from skilled practitioners: first to train them what is normal versus unusual activity, and then to interpret the output.
Over half of the IT and security professionals polled (56%) said they believe machines can’t be trained to do tasks performed by humans, while a similar number claimed that security teams are better equipped to catch threats in real time.