February 23, 2024 at 10:20AM
The fast adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in the Middle East and Africa is prompting organizations to increase data privacy and cloud security measures. Concerns about GenAI are driving a 24% and 17% increase in budgets for data privacy and cloud security, respectively, according to Gartner. However, the potential threats posed by AI technology, such as unauthorized usage and nation-state attackers, present ongoing challenges. Overall, the region is expected to spend $3.3 billion on security and risk management in 2024, with data protection and cloud security driving the increases. Despite worries, GenAI continues to see strong interest and is being considered for various business functions, with cybersecurity firms incorporating intelligence and machine learning to address the evolving security landscape.
Based on the meeting notes, here are the key takeaways:
1. Fast-track adoption of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is driving organizations in the Middle East and Africa to ramp up data privacy and cloud security protections.
2. Concerns about GenAI are leading to expected increases in spending for data privacy and cloud security by 24% and 17% respectively compared to 2023, according to Gartner.
3. Potential threats posed by AI are largely unexplored and companies are still establishing strategies to tackle its disruptive effects on businesses, including recent dangers such as intellectual property leaks through chatbots and improved social engineering attacks by attackers.
4. Unauthorized usage by workers poses operational risks, while attackers’ adoption of the technology means a likely increase in their technical capabilities and improved social engineering attacks.
5. GenAI abuse has been exposed by Microsoft and OpenAI, with nation-state attackers using GenAI services to improve attacks by automating reconnaissance, answering queries about targeted systems, and improving messages and lures used in social engineering attacks. Three-quarters of cybersecurity and IT professionals believe that GenAI is being used by workers, with or without authorization.
6. Despite security risks, nearly a third of organizations worldwide already have a pilot program in place to explore the use of GenAI in their business.
7. Data privacy and updated data protection laws are driving increases in data-protection budgets in the Middle East and Africa, with companies and government agencies in the MENA region expected to spend $3.3 billion on security and risk management this year.
8. Cloud adoption is driving the need to protect businesses’ cloud services, leading to a rise in cloud security spending in the MENA region.
9. Overall adoption of AI technologies in the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) region exceeds other places in the world, but most organizations are only using it for marketing and sales or service operations.
10. Relatively expensive Internet service, lack of connectivity in many regions, and regulatory uncertainty around cloud have led to lagging demand for cloud adoption in the Middle East and North Africa.
These are the key takeaways from the meeting notes.