iNews Vol 156

#CMOInsights

How do we accelerate India’s AI adoption – safely?

India is racing to embrace AI across industries and job functions, driven from the top. A staggering 97% of Indian organizations surveyed by Cisco feel the need to deploy AI tools in just the last 6 months.

While these intentions to leverage AI are commendable, they are outpacing actual capabilities.

Are we ready for rapid AI deployment? Cisco’s AI Readiness Index reveals a large readiness gap - only 31% of Indian firms qualify as "Pacesetters" fully prepared to capitalize on AI. The remaining 69% still have critical gaps to address across strategy, infrastructure, data governance, talent, and culture pillars.

As organizations integrate AI deeper into core business functions, one area demanding particular focus is cybersecurity readiness.

PwC’s 2024 Global Digital Trust Insights Survey showcased that over half of Indian companies ranked cloud threats as their biggest worry for the coming year.

These are well-founded apprehensions. The Cisco study found 58% of Indian companies lack full readiness to detect and mitigate AI model attacks. Data management woes like lack of centralization (73%) and suboptimal analytics integration (60%) exacerbate vulnerabilities.

However, AI presents a double-edged sword. While 90% of PwC respondents believe generative AI will create new business lines and boost productivity within a year, 73% also feel GenAI could precipitate catastrophic cyberattacks in the same timeframe.

This duality raises concerns yet solidifies the need for a robust AI governance framework. Yet only 27% of Indian companies have comprehensive protocols for ethical, unbiased AI development per Cisco. Just 41% have systematic bias detection mechanisms, and concerningly, 14% lack any formal processes to correct biases once identified.

The Way Forward

As Indian enterprises double down on AI, bulletproof cybersecurity must be a pre-requisite, not an afterthought. This will require C-suite leaders to spearhead strategic initiatives:

·         Modernize Infrastructure: With 95% expecting increased AI loads, flexible and scalable infrastructure backed by cyber-resilient architecture is vital.

·         Unify Data Governance: End data siloes and centralize data management under a rigorous governance model covering compliance, sovereignty, accuracy, and bias mitigation.

·         Attract and Upskill Cyber Talent: While the talent pipeline is healthy, 49% still feel under-resourced in AI skills. Continuous reskilling is key.

·         Foster AI-Ready Culture: Extend AI change management from leadership to the frontlines. Bridge receptiveness gaps across levels.

·         Collaborate on Regulation: Engage proactively with lawmakers to shape guardrails catalyzing responsible AI innovation

Here is the news for this week:

Here is how much Indians lost to cyber frauds between Jan and Apr of 2024

Between January and April 2024, Indian citizens suffered losses exceeding Rs 1,750 crore due to cybercriminal activities.

RBI finalises norms for fintech self-regulation

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday released its final guidelines for financial technology firms to create a self-regulatory organisation (SRO) aimed at enforcing regulatory standards and fostering transparency in the sector.

New North Korean Threat Actor Engaging in Espionage, Revenue Generation Attacks

Tracked as Moonstone Sleet (formerly Storm-1789), the state-sponsored group has been combining tactics, techniques, and procedures

Personal information of hundreds of British and EU politicians is available on dark web marketplaces.

According to research conducted by Proton and Constella Intelligence, the email addresses and other sensitive information of 918 British MPs, European Parliament members, and French deputies and senators are available in the dark web

Santander staff and '30 million' customers hacked

Hackers are attempting to sell what they say is confidential information belonging to millions of Santander staff and customers.

Ticketek customer details exposed in cybersecurity breach

Clare O’Neil says incident affecting many Australians but appears restricted to the release of names, dates of birth and email addresses

Chinese national arrested for operating proxy service linked to billions in cybercrime

YunHe Wang and two associates were also sanctioned by the Treasury Department in operation to install malware on users’ computers.

Police dismantle pirated TV streaming network that made $5.7 million

Spanish police have dismantled a network of illegal media content distribution that, since the start of its operations in 2015, has made over $5,700,000.