Admins are overworked, understaffed, and in an escalating war with hackers. As a result, their job protecting enterprise ecosystems is more stressful and complicated than perhaps ever before.
IT admins across business types and sectors need to do more with less while coming up against bad actors who, coincidentally, are doing just that. Nearly three-quarters of cybercriminals report newfound efficiency and capability with artificial intelligence, a big increase from just one in five acknowledging the same advantage in 2023. They find that free or cheap generative tools allow them to attack at scale with fewer resources and technical know-how.
The good news? AI, when onboarded safely, is a productivity boom for ecosystem defenders as much as ecosystem attackers. It’s up to enterprises and admins to come together, think strategically, and automate carefully to make this possible. This is how we better protect enterprises and help admins effectively multitask in the era of AI.
Triple Threat to Roles and Responsibilities
There are several factors making life tough for admins. For starters, there’s a persistent cybersecurity talent shortage in the United States. Currently, there are only enough cybersecurity workers to fill about 80% of available positions, creating a significant gap in the workforce. Internal teams are forced to make do and share roles and responsibilities among themselves, forcing them to wear many more hats than in years gone by.
Also, admins are still dealing with the pandemic fallout. Attacks are far greater in number, endpoints are more often remote, and technical skills have a dramatically shortened lifespan. Today, specialized cybersecurity and AI skills are outdated in as little as two years. Accelerated digital transformation and the automation of entry-level positions have eliminated traditional career pathways that once created a pipeline of experienced defenders.
This is a one-two punch creating in-demand jobs with fewer workers to fill them. And, we haven’t even mentioned the frightening ingenuity of hacks today. Deepfakes, phishing and password predictors are just the tip of the iceberg. AI is giving hackers the upper hand, and it’s time for admins to fight back.
New Eyes and Ears for Admins
AI can and should serve as additional eyes and ears for overwhelmed admins. Wearing multiple hats, AI can take the legwork out of automated patch scanning, endpoint updating, and vulnerability detection. The aim is to reduce the manual workload and give admins back much-needed time and space.
Also, conversational AI interfaces are transforming security scripting processes. Today’s platforms allow administrators to create and verify operational scripts through simple dialogue, requiring no advanced programming background. This proves especially beneficial when securing diverse ecosystems with multiple operating systems and device types. By lowering technical barriers to advanced configurations, these tools help bridge the talent gap and implement strong protections without extensive coding resources.
For deepfakes and sophisticated phishing, machines can spot the handiwork of other machines far better than we can do it. Better yet, beyond just threat detection, advanced applications use predictive analytics to forecast system bottlenecks before they impact real-world operations.
Onboard Slow and Steady with Pain Points
Security teams beginning their AI security journey should prioritize solutions that complement their tech stack. Seek out capabilities that integrate with existing platforms to strengthen rather than fragment your architecture. Begin with automating the most pressing challenges: Identifying threats; maintaining consistent policies; and providing around-the-clock oversight. By targeting these high-value areas first, teams with limited resources can achieve significant security improvements while minimizing implementation risks.
Going slow and steady is the key to AI adoption. Enterprise leaders are understandably worried about integrating new technology and potentially giving it access to sensitive or proprietary data. The workaround is to only give tools access to need-to-know information and dictate which parts of the network they can and can’t access.
At the same time, the answer for admins and enterprises isn’t to ignore this revolution. AI is here to stay, and hackers have no qualms about weaponizing it. Protecting ecosystems and taking the pressure off admins demands a progressive approach. Only then can admins successfully wear multiple hats, relieve some pressure, and keep up with the growing threat landscape.