AI is Coming, Prompting New IT Security Concerns

Intelligent, often autonomous, systems are making headway in the datacenter as developers seek to offload manual processes and move beyond traditional approaches like prescriptive IT automation as they struggle to keep up. That's the conclusion of a vendor-backed survey of IT executives about the adoption of intelligent machines and systems based on new AI approaches and other expert systems. Still, the survey sponsored by IT management software specialist Ipswitch notes that early adopters of automated systems are struggling to gauge security and access risks associated with handing the keys to bots and other electronic assistants. "IT decision makers recognize that, while a force for good, these technologies also expose the enterprise to new internal and external risk vectors," Tony Lock, an analyst with survey author Freeform Dynamics, noted in a statement. "As the pace of adoption increases, there will be no escaping the impact of intelligent systems on the enterprise, regardless of whether or not organizations directly invest in such technologies."