As World Leans On GenAI, Cyber Risks Are A New Worry

As the world becomes more digital, cybersecurity risks are growing rapidly. The pace of digitisation in the government, businesses and the wider society is faster than the ability to secure against new forms of cyber threats.

- PRANJAL SHARMA

Recent reports and examples show that cyberattacks will become more likely in 2024 due to the rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), a type of artificial intelligence that can create images, videos, audio and text from a dataset of previous examples.

"Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are changing how people work and raising unforeseen business risks. Ransomware, deepfakes, and other sophisticated cybersecurity issues are emerging and evolving at full speed," said a recent report by riskmanagement firm Riskonnect.

"The vast majority of companies-93 per cent-anticipate significant threats associated with generative AI. But just 9 per cent of companies say they're prepared to manage generative AI risks." India is among countries at the highest risk from cyber vulnerabilities caused by a new generation of GenAI technologies. Only three per cent of organisations around the globe have a 'mature' level of readiness against modern cybersecurity risks, according to Cisco's 2024 Cybersecurity Readiness Index.

In India, only 4 per cent of organisations are 'mature'.