A brand new survey of security leaders has revealed a stark distinction between AI expectations and realities – whereas enthusiasm for AI’s potential runs excessive, groups are grappling with vital challenges in implementation demonstrating ROI, and realizing tangible enterprise influence.
Sponsored by Tines and AWS, IDC’s Voice of Safety 2025 white paper options survey knowledge from over 900 security leaders within the US, Europe, and Australia.
At first look, the information reveals that security leaders’ sentiment towards AI is essentially constructive:
- 99% of groups are embracing AI
- 78% of leaders are assured that modifications to their roles shall be manageable
However this enthusiasm coexists with many issues about AI, together with frustration on the tempo of adoption. And a deeper evaluation of the information means that these adoption challenges could also be stopping groups from exploring extra impactful functions. Whereas AI adoption is widespread, realizing its full potential stays elusive for lots of the leaders surveyed.
Present state: Excessive hopes meet harsh realities
IDC’s white paper discovered that the majority security leaders view AI as a power multiplier, anticipating future advantages like elevated enterprise effectivity (54%), improved buyer expertise (51%), and higher aggressive benefit (46%).
However within the current, these groups are grappling with vital boundaries to adoption:
- 33% are nervous about coaching capability
- 27% have compliance-related issues
- 26% have issues about AI hallucinations
- 25% are targeted on safe AI adoption
- 20% are annoyed by sluggish implementation
As we look at IDC’s knowledge additional, two potential options emerge to assist groups higher notice AI’s potential.
Answer #1: Transfer to make use of circumstances that help vital decision-making
IDC’s analysis reveals that the most well-liked AI use circumstances for security groups primarily contain knowledge manipulation:
- • 36% use AI for summarization
- • 35% use AI for menace intelligence evaluation
- • 34% use AI for menace detection
Whereas knowledge summarization is a wonderful place to begin for AI adoption, it must be considered as a stepping stone relatively than an finish purpose.
Much less widespread in IDC’s analysis, however indicative of extra mature AI applications are the next use circumstances:
- • 32% use AI for danger assessments
- • 25% use AI for assault floor administration
- • 22% use AI for superior triage
This give attention to knowledge manipulation implies that lots of the security groups featured within the examine are nonetheless early of their AI journey. To attain true enterprise influence, they’ll have to progress from short-term effectivity beneficial properties by way of knowledge summarization to functions that basically remodel operations. As an example, an AI-powered danger prioritization workflow might provide extra substantial, enduring advantages to a corporation’s security posture.
In fact, realizing these superior use circumstances requires leaders to deal with the issues highlighted earlier, which leads us to our second potential answer.
Answer #2: Undertake a versatile, holistic method to AI
To pave the way in which for these superior use circumstances, security groups want to maneuver past counting on remoted AI options in present instruments and give attention to growing a complete AI technique that addresses their particular challenges.
Based mostly on the challenges highlighted in IDC’s analysis, this method would possibly contain:
- Integration of AI with workflow orchestration – combining AI capabilities with automated workflows to maximise influence and effectivity.
- Ability improvement – investing in coaching to make sure workforce members can successfully leverage AI instruments and interpret their outputs.
- An adaptive AI technique – growing a versatile AI roadmap that may evolve with technological developments and altering security wants.
- Strong security and privateness measures – selecting instruments with sturdy guardrails to deal with issues about security, knowledge dealing with, and compliance.
As AI matures, the promise for security use circumstances will develop exponentially. If security leaders can successfully handle their issues with the proper tooling and processes, their belief in AI will develop, too.
A versatile and holistic method to AI, just like the one described above, may also help groups navigate adoption complexities, deal with present challenges, and put together for extra refined AI functions as expertise evolves.
A versatile, security-focused AI technique allows leaders to rapidly act on rising alternatives for impactful use circumstances, and finally facilitate the supply of AI’s promised ROI.
Be taught extra about how security leaders are approaching AI in 2025 in IDC’s white paper.
