The scale and impact of cyber-responsibility is weighing on IT teams as they share insights into the increased pressure they face.
More than half (54%) of European IT decision makers (ITDMs) admit that the fear of their organisation being attacked by cybercriminals regularly keeps them awake at night. The figure rises to 63% among smaller-sized companies with 100-249 employees, according to data from Corelight.
Entitled Productive Paranoia – How Threat Hunters Can Turn Their Fear of the Unknown into a Positive, the report gathered insights from senior ITDMs across the UK, France and Germany, and highlights the anxiety caused by the rapidly changing threat landscape.
Despite meticulous planning, the unpredictability of cyberthreats remains a significant challenge. With remote work environments and supply chain threats dominating the list of concerns, ITDMs are in a constant race to keep up with the latest threats.
“Ambiguity and uncertainty are not just occasional challenges but the norm in security operations,” said Matt Ellison, Technical Director EMEA at Corelight. “This is why embracing what we term ‘productive paranoia’ is crucial. By combining advanced AI technology with human intelligence, organisations can proactively manage threats and build resilience.”
Survey Insights: The Pulse of European IT professionals
The survey reveals that 86% of ITDMs are feeling increased pressure from executive leadership since 2020. This pressure is compounded by the ever-shifting threat landscape, where remote working environments currently top the list of challenges (51%), with supply chain threats expected to rise significantly (67%) over the next year. Whilst playing catch-up with the latest threats is the biggest challenge for half of the respondents (49%), and a lack of access to threat intelligence is a critical issue for 68%.
Embracing the fear: Building resilience
Despite these challenges, there is a clear drive to address anxiety and build resilience against new and unknown threats. More than three-quarters (78%) of respondents are committed to enhancing their SecOps capabilities. However, the fast-changing threat landscape (44%) and a shortage of skilled security team members (41%) remain significant barriers.
The Perfect Security Formula: AI and Human Intelligence
The survey also sheds light on the ideal security approach, which respondents believe to be a blend of people and technology. Nearly half (45%) of the organisations already employ dedicated threat hunters, with risk-based threat hunting and threat intelligence-based strategies being the most popular (both 60%).
However, as threat volumes surge and adversaries deploy automated tools, human efforts alone are insufficient. This is where AI, specifically GenAI, comes into play. GenAI enhances threat hunter productivity by reducing human error and enabling rapid, sophisticated search queries. It can also summarise large data volumes, preventing analyst overload.
It’s no surprise that 89% of respondents are either using GenAI or planning to integrate it into their solution stacks. When asked about the biggest impact on improving security scenarios by 2033, the most popular answer was ‘AI & automation for threat hunting and prevention’ (50%).
Taking action: Future initiatives
European ITDMs are enthusiastic about enhancing SecOps capabilities with GenAI. They believe the technology will help mitigate attacks based on past tactics (75%), improve threat detection (71%), and shorten the breach cycle (63%). However, they also recognise the need to mitigate potential GenAI risks and enhance in-house skills.
Respondents indicate plans to implement several initiatives in the coming year:
- Training to hunt threats with and without GenAI, to avoid over-reliance on the technology (68%)
- Validating GenAI output, especially for threat detection algorithms (58%)
- Hiring talent to incorporate GenAI capabilities into solutions (62%)
- Guarding against external tampering of GenAI algorithms (59%)
- Guarding against AI-generated false information (60%)
“The world is filled with uncertainty, but by enhancing and upskilling in-house talent with AI and automation, IT leaders can turn their paranoia about the future into a strategic advantage,” adds Ellison. “It’s time to put the plan into action.”
