AI-powered cyberattacks are posing a new level of risk to Indian businesses.
Indian businesses are actively integrating AI to stay competitive within global markets, improve operational efficiency and support local cyber teams. Generative AI (GenAI) tools, government initiatives and a growing talent shortage are posing new challenges for Indian organisations.
AI introduces new security risks. For example, employees could share internal data with unauthorised tools like ChatGPT. Threat actors often leverage this opportunity to advance, automate and scale their attacks. AI widens the attack surface. This makes traditional security defences less effective and places additional strain on security teams.
At the same time, AI benefits businesses with secure analytics, gathering insights into an attack, alerting the Security Operations Centre (SOC) team and providing a roadmap of how to solve it. AI is providing opportunities to narrow the security talent gap, identify vulnerabilities within a network and gather actionable insights for SOC teams. The benefits of AI outweigh the challenges but Indian businesses need to take a proactive approach to adopt it within cybersecurity.
Across India, there is still a level of caution around security when it comes to AI adoption. Ninety-two per cent of Indian executives identify security vulnerabilities as a primary concern in AI adoption, according to Deloitte India. Secure integration of AI depends on an organisation’s ability to balance the risks and rewards of this technology.
Without a solid strategy for deployment, we can expect Indian businesses and infrastructure to fall victim to AI-driven attacks and vulnerabilities. Security leaders, executives and SOC teams need intuitive AI solutions that benefit their organisations, strengthen India’s national resilience and protect against the growing rate of malicious attacks.
AI is Reshaping India’s Threat Landscape
AI-driven attacks can take the form of deepfakes, used to convince employees that they are from a trusted person with the intent of stealing sensitive information or gaining access to networks.
These attacks also emerge as phishing emails. With generative AI (GenAI), threat actors can write well-crafted content across multiple languages as well as reply in real time when a victim responds, making it more believable and increasing chances of success.
India is a high-value target for threat actors due to its large population of internet users and the lack of resources given to threat defences. Ninety-three per cent of Indian executives anticipate a cyber budget increase this year but only forty-two per cent of business leaders are focusing on data protection and remediation, as reported by PwC.
This is a challenge worsened by the emergence of AI-enabled threat actors, as SOC teams are unable to anticipate attackers’ capabilities.
They are advancing India’s threat landscape by:
Orchestrating Processes: AI can power threat actors with automation, infiltrating vulnerabilities that would normally take hours to identify. Automating these processes also means that the attack can occur multiple times, scaling with ease and attacking with efficiency, taking advantage of all network vulnerabilities.
Personalising Social Engineering Attacks: Indian banks are experiencing a rise in deepfake technology. This social engineering attack can convince employees to reveal sensitive data. AI-powered attacks like this are harder to detect as they convincingly mimic trusted individuals, picking up on writing habits, language and even their current projects.
Manipulating Vulnerabilities: AI can spot vulnerabilities within a network and attack before SOC teams can respond. These attacks can also scale infinitely, run 24/7 and hit networks simultaneously, attacking the business from every angle.
Avoiding Traditional Detection: Cyberattacks often adapt by dodging detection and switching tactics in line with the SOC response before infiltrating again. This scalable technique means that SOC teams must work even harder and longer to stop the attack from escalating.
Indian businesses need proactive AI solutions that defend against these types of cyberattacks. All industries and businesses of all sizes must implement a pre-emptive strategy to protect against inevitable cyberattacks.
Protecting Sensitive Data and Defending Reputations
Sensitive customer information, including financial data, is invaluable to businesses and the trust they hold from their consumers. When data is leaked by AI-driven attacks, businesses risk huge reputational and financial losses and reduced trust in their organisation.
For Indian organisations looking to strengthen their threat detection, investigation and response, businesses can:
Invest in AI-Driven Security Analytics: AI cyberattacks are intimidating but using AI-driven security analytics can spot anomalous behaviour before the SOC team spends hours searching for it. In seconds, user and entity behavioural analytics (UEBA) can spot suspicious activity, alert the team and recommend steps to defend against the threat.
Train Employees to Spot Vulnerabilities: SOC teams, especially in India, are overworked and stretched thin in their capabilities. The cybersecurity skills gap impacts all organisations of all sizes. Training should start with the basics including using strong passwords, practising good cyber hygiene and recognising phishing emails before moving on to more advanced topics like network vulnerabilities. A strong foundation will develop your cybersecurity posture at all levels, making a deepfake cyberattack less likely to impact your organisation.
Strengthen SOC Teams: Investing in performing the basics of cybersecurity, hiring new talent and investing in the existing skills of talent will reinforce your security posture. Local initiatives like IndiaAI are built to focus on AI-led programmes with cybersecurity modules. Supporting these will strengthen your future workforce and build a strong reputation for your company.
Automate Processes to Free Up Human Time: By automating processes, agentic AI, an AI that makes agency-based decisions and operates independently without constant surveillance, is freeing up the manual workload the SOC team has. After detecting an attack, agentic AI builds a roadmap for the SOC team on how to protect the network and stop the attack from worsening. This streamlines workflows and supports automation that is efficient, effective and easy to understand. This AI can also translate security metrics into business-relevant terms, supporting Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) facing executive boards with future investments.
Indian businesses need to protect their networks and SOC teams from rising AI-powered cyberattacks. Security analytics, improved threat detection, investigation and response are invaluable assets to a security network to protect organisations’ reputations, shield sensitive information and secure finances from fraudsters.
Using Scalable, Adaptable AI-Driven Solutions
AI-powered cyberattacks are a case of ‘when’ and not ‘if’. Without implementing solid strategies that are scalable, adaptable and support the existing network, organisations must expect an attack to take place. Protecting reputation, finances, sensitive customer data and strengthening businesses’ cybersecurity posture is crucial.
AI in cybersecurity is a double-edged sword; while it offers new defence mechanisms, it also comes with unique challenges. It is vital that CISOs and their SOC teams implement AI-driven security that can benefit their organisation, automate processes and ease manual workloads to protect against the cyberattacks plaguing Indian businesses.
The author is Principal Director of Solutions Engineering, iMETA – Exabeam. Views are personal.
