AI Security Risks: 48% of Professionals Sound the Alarm

A recent survey of 500 security professionals by HackerOne, a security research platform, found that 48% believe AI poses the most significant security risk to their organization. Among their greatest concerns related to AI include:

• Leaked training data
• Unauthorized usage
• The hacking of AI models by outsiders

These fears highlight the urgent need for companies to reassess their AI security strategies before vulnerabilities become real threats.

Security Professionals are in an “Arms Race” with Threat Actors

Further research from a HackerOne-sponsored SANS Institute report revealed that security professionals believe that security teams and threat actors could find themselves in an “arms race” to leverage generative AI tactics and techniques in their work. Security professionals have found success using AI to automate tedious tasks, however, threat actors could exploit AI to make their operations more efficient.

External Review is Key to Identifying AI Safety and Security Issues

The solution to these concerns is for AI implementations to undergo an external review. More than two-thirds of those surveyed chose “external review” as the most effective way to identify AI safety and security issues.

Humans Bring Important Context to Defensive and Offensive Security

“Humans bring a lot of important context to both defensive and offensive security that AI can’t replicate quite yet,” said Dane Sherrets, HackerOne Senior Solutions Architect. “AI is still great for increasing productivity and performing tasks that don’t require deep context.”