On the identical time, firms should strengthen the safety of their AI fashions and knowledge to scale back publicity to manipulation from AI-enabled malware. Such dangers may embody, for example, immediate injections, the place a malicious consumer crafts a immediate to govern an AI mannequin into performing unintended actions, bypassing its authentic directions and safeguards.
Agentic AI additional ups the ante, with hackers ready to make use of AI brokers to automate assaults and make tactical choices with out fixed human oversight. “Agentic AI has the potential to break down the price of the kill chain,” says Bailey. “Which means on a regular basis cybercriminals may begin executing campaigns that at this time solely well-funded espionage operations can afford.”
Organizations, in flip, are exploring how AI brokers will help them keep forward. Almost 40% of firms anticipate agentic AI to reinforce or help groups over the following 12 months, particularly in cybersecurity, in response to Cisco’s 2025 AI Readiness Index. Use instances embody AI brokers educated on telemetry, which might establish anomalies or indicators from machine knowledge too disparate and unstructured to be deciphered by people.
Calculating the quantum menace
As many cybersecurity groups give attention to the very actual AI-driven menace, quantum is ready on the sidelines. Virtually three-quarters (73%) of US organizations surveyed by KPMG say they consider it is just a matter of time earlier than cybercriminals are utilizing quantum to decrypt and disrupt at this time’s cybersecurity protocols. And but, the bulk (81%) additionally admit they might do extra to make sure that their knowledge stays safe.
Corporations are proper to be involved. Menace actors are already finishing up harvest now, decrypt later attacks, stockpiling delicate encrypted knowledge to crack as soon as quantum expertise matures. Examples embody state-sponsored actors intercepting authorities communications and cybercriminal networks storing encrypted web site visitors or monetary information.
Giant expertise firms are among the many first to roll out quantum defenses. For instance, Apple is using cryptography protocol PQ3 to defend in opposition to harvest now, decrypt later assaults on its iMessage platform. Google is testing post-quantum cryptography (PQC)—which is immune to assaults from each quantum and classical computer systems—in its Chrome browser. And Cisco “has made vital investments in quantum-proofing our software program and infrastructure,” says Bailey. “You’ll see extra enterprises and governments taking comparable steps over the following 18 to 24 months,” he provides.
As laws just like the US Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act lay out necessities for mitigating in opposition to quantum threats, together with standardized PQC algorithms by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a wider vary of organizations will begin making ready their very own quantum defenses.
For organizations starting that journey, Bailey outlines two key actions. First, set up visibility. “Perceive what knowledge you’ve and the place it lives,” he says. “Take stock, assess sensitivity, and overview your encryption keys, rotating out any which are weak or outdated.”
