Steve Durbin is Chief Executive of Information Security Forum. He is a frequent speaker on the Board's role in cybersecurity and technology. A technology-led revolution, dubbed Industry 4.0, is gathering pace in the industrial world where traditional processes and legacy technologies are being replaced by smart devices, automated machines and advanced forms of computing. The rise of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), owing to exponential growth in technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, robots, drones, sensors, etc., is helping manufacturers improve efficiencies, productivity and the autonomous operation of production lines. Businesses are pouring billions of dollars in AI and automation, and the Industrial IoT (IIoT) alone is set to become a $500 billion market by 2025.

Steve Durbin is Chief Executive of Information Security Forum. He is a frequent speaker on the Board's role in cybersecurity and technology. A technology-led revolution, dubbed Industry 4.0, is gathering pace in the industrial world where traditional processes and legacy technologies are being replaced by smart devices, automated machines and advanced forms of computing. The rise of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), owing to exponential growth in technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, robots, drones, sensors, etc., is helping manufacturers improve efficiencies, productivity and the autonomous operation of production lines. Businesses are pouring billions of dollars in AI and automation, and the Industrial IoT (IIoT) alone is set to become a $500 billion market by 2025.

A technology-led revolution, dubbed Industry 4.0, is gathering pace in the industrial world where traditional processes and legacy technologies are being replaced by smart devices, automated machines and advanced forms of computing. The rise of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), owing to exponential growth in technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, robots, drones, sensors, etc., is helping manufacturers improve efficiencies, productivity and the autonomous operation of production lines. Businesses are pouring billions of dollars in AI and automation, and the Industrial IoT (IIoT) alone is set to become a $500 billion market by 2025. IT/OT convergence could spell disaster for industries. As smart factories and supply chains connect the production line to the outside world via IIoT, digitally connected industries are becoming increasingly appealing to cybercriminals, who now have the opportunity to hijack high-value targets.

As the modern threat landscape continues to expand, adding artificial intelligence (AI) to a security strategy has become paramount to establishing and maintaining an effective security posture. Given the speed and complexity of modern cyberthreats and the current cybersecurity skills shortage, network security teams need the assistance of machine learning and other AI-based capabilities in order to detect, secure, and mitigate modern attacks. However, it should come as no surprise that while organizations are adopting AI to bolster their security efforts, cybercriminals are also adopting of things like agile software development, automation, and machine learning to potentially leverage AI themselves to better identify and more quickly exploit network vulnerabilities. Due to the growing number and variety of IoTand OT devices entering network infrastructures, cybercriminals already have the opportunity and capability to launch rapid, complex attacks that these inherently vulnerable devices as entryways into corporate networks. The potential attack capabilities posed by AI will only further compound the threats to today's digital transformation efforts.