IS ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE AND
MACHINE LEARNING
HYPE PUTTING
BUSINESSES AT
GREATER RISK?
N
ew research
from global
cybersecurity
firm ESET reveals
that the recent
hype surrounding
Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning
(ML) is deceiving three in four IT
decision makers (75%) into believing
the technologies are the silver bullet to
solving their cybersecurity challenges.
The hype, ESET says, is causing
confusion among IT teams and could be
putting organisations at greater risk of
falling victim to cybercrime.
In the past year, the amount of content
published in marketing materials, media
and social media on the role of AI in
cybersecurity has grown enormously.
ESET surveyed 900 IT decision makers
across the US, UK and Germany on
their opinions and attitudes to AI and
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Issue 06
causing so many IT decision makers –
particularly in the US – to regard the
technologies as ‘the silver bullet’ to
cybersecurity challenges.
ML in response to this growing hype.
The findings showed that US IT decision
makers are most likely to consider the
technologies as a panacea to solve their
cybersecurity challenges, compared
to their European counterparts – 82%
compared to 67% in the UK and 66% in
Germany. The majority of respondents
said that AI and ML would help their
organisation detect and respond to
threats faster (79%) and help solve a
skills shortage (77%).
Juraj Malcho, Chief Technology Officer
at ESET, said: “It is worrying to see
that the hype around AI and ML is
“If the past decade has taught us
anything, it’s that some things do not
have an easy solution – especially in
cyberspace where the playing field can
shift in a matter of minutes. In today’s
business environment, it would be
unwise to rely solely on one technology
to build a robust cyberdefence.
“However, it is also interesting to
see such a gap between the US and
European respondents. The concern is
that overhyping this technology may be
causing technology leaders in the UK
and Germany to tune out. It’s crucial that
IT decision makers recognise that, while
ML is without a doubt an important tool
in the fight against cybercrime, it must
be just one part of an organisation’s
overall cybersecurity strategy.”
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