Automation through the use of AI technologies is an appealing option for companies seeking to reduce the workload on understaffed teams, reduce the costs of human labor, save time, and overall accomplish more with less. It can also help companies manage risk and improve the quality of product and service development. At the same time, criminals leverage AI to perpetrate elaborate and complex cyber-attacks on companies and engage in cyber experimentation with malicious software.
AI is helping companies detect malware but constantly needs adjustments in order to avoid detecting too many false positives. Malwarebytes’s 2019 Report on AI notes that cybercriminals exploit this weakness by circumventing malware detection to make AI see its files as legitimate or by solving Captcha or creating more convincing spam. The cyber risks associated with using robotic process automation (“RPA”) include abuse of privileged access, disclosure of sensitive data, security vulnerabilities, and denial of service, according to EY’s Report on robotics and cyber-attacks. These risks are likely to continue in magnitude and intensity for the upcoming year.