If I had to put a number on it, I hear the term “AI” 50 plus times a day. That’s probably a similar reality for most of us. And what I’ve noticed, is that now I’ve stopped noticing when I hear it. A strange occurrence being that I work for an AI cybersecurity company, but it could be that my AI radar is set to filter out any grand statements, buzzy sounding takes or conspiracy associations about the tech. The nice thing about this internal setting, is that it has learned to prioritize alerts when something AI-related might actually be useful. In my case as someone who works on different types of content, that might be an AI tool that helps optimize or scale content — similar to how a security analyst would find it useful to know when an alert is urgent versus having to sift through thousands of false positives.
Security teams are adopting AI—find out why in our latest eBook
The buzz around AI isn’t surprising. We’re seeing the most valuable companies in the world at the forefront, and it’s even a major talking point in the White House. This is the age of AI and it feels like everyone has a heavy case of FOMO. We know the adoption numbers where we play (threat detection, investigation and response) are growing rapidly.
The numbers don’t lie, but do we know specifics about the usage and effectiveness of AI tools in practice? For example, how is it improving practitioner workflows so they can be more effective at stopping attacks? Hold that thought, let’s talk about golf for a second. Callaway Golf claims the “World’s First AI Smart FaceTM”. Congrats to them, but as a golfer I have questions that really can’t be answered unless I use that club during a round — I need more data. Will it correct my unexplainable fade off the tee that recently appeared? Will it save me money because in the long run I’ll lose less balls to my furry friends in the woods? Will it cut my ETPR (estimated time per round) down and lead to less lies about my return time? Most importantly, will it swing itself?
Benefits of AI in cybersecurity
While I wait for a response from Callaway, let’s somehow get back on track with AI in cybersecurity. The data expressed in the charts above were from Vectra AI’s 2024 State of Threat Detection and Response report. It’s an annual report that details the challenges security practitioners face each day when detecting, investigating, and responding to cyberattacks. The report included responses from 2,000 security professionals across various industries, including details about AI usage within their organizations. In addition to the adoption metrics above, participants in the study also shared what they considered to be the most important benefits that AI-powered security tools offered.
With security practitioners already using AI (97% of respondents), the following outcomes were experienced.
Why is AI delivering cybersecurity outcomes other tools can’t?
In reading through the report, it’s not just the adoption and benefits of AI in cybersecurity that stand out, but more so the reason why practitioners seem to be heading towards it. They simply aren’t getting the outcomes needed from their existing tools. Here’s a quick example:
This isn’t a new trend as all of these percentages in the chart above are higher than they were when we conducted the same report a year prior. There’s clearly a disconnect between security practitioners and the traditional threat detection and response tools when detecting threats across modern hybrid networks. And as this sentiment grows, it’s becoming even more interesting to see not just the adoption of AI in cybersecurity, but specifically the outcomes experienced by the practitioners who rely on it. To see how practitioners are filling exposure gaps with AI? How they’re increasing the speed of detection, investigation, and response times? How false positives are being reduced, while being able to prioritize real threats at a higher level?
Unlike how I have zero evidence or confidence that a new golf club with AI will correct my fade, we do know with confidence the positive impact AI is having on threat detection and response. In fact, we even have a free eBook available that goes beyond the adoption numbers and further into the specifics about why security teams are relying on AI for smarter, faster, and more effective threat defense.
Take a look to see how security teams are using AI for smarter threat detection. You'll learn:
- How AI is delivering more actionable data and deeper threat context to fill gaps.
- How AI fits in the security stack across detection, investigation, and response.
- How the right AI can provide teams with an overall better signal to noise ratio.
Read it here: eBook: Applying AI to Threat Detection and Response