Generative AI has arrived in the enterprise segment. The Large Language Model (LLM) solution, which can deliver human-like answers to queries, has caught the imagination of employees in a wide variety of enterprises, going by the latest study by Netskope. This augurs well for the companies as these models offer better utilisation of data as the queries are answered in a few seconds. It, however, poses security risks.
As ChatGPT grew in popularity, other companies began creating competing chatbots, and even more companies began creating niche products to leverage the power of these large language models (LLMs). The idea of an AI-powered assistant to help in tasks like writing, programming, and even security operations took off.
The study
The study found that over 10 per cent of employees in enterprises access at least one
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) application every month. Compare this with only two per cent of employees accessing the service a year ago.
Netskope’s annual Cloud and Threat Report found that ChatGPT, the GenerativeAI solution developed by OpenAI, was the most popular generative AI application.
With use of LLMs currently growing exponentially, the top 25 per cent of users can be expected to increase generative AI activity significantly in 2024 as this group finds new ways to integrate the technology into their daily lives.
Threat of exposure
“With growing AI app usage, employees are more likely to expose sensitive data like
credentials, personal information, or intellectual property,” Ray Canzanese, Threat
Research Director at Netskope Threat Labs, said in the report.
He wanted the organisations to ensure the safe enablement and adoption of AI apps. “For safe enablement of AI apps, organisations must implement reasonable controls and advanced data security capabilities while focusing on how employees can use AI productively,” he said.
“Although it did not crack the top 20 most popular apps of 2023, ChatGPT added more users than any other app, with its popularity increasing from 0 per cent to nearly 7 per cent of all enterprise users by the end of the year,” the report said.
Target for hackers
As the adoption of cloud apps witnessed a surge in 2023, they became a target for hackers. Shopping sites too were among the top targets throughout the year, while banking portals, social media and government targets also saw a notable increase.
The year also saw increase in the adoption of cloud applications continued to rise throughout the year, with enterprise users consistently trying out new apps while increasing their usage of the most popular apps.
“Half of all enterprise users interact with between 11 and 33 cloud apps each month, with the top one per cent using more than 96 apps per month. Interactions with these cloud apps are increasing at an even faster rate, from just over 1,000 activities per month two years ago to nearly 2,000 activities per month today,” the report said.
Social engineering threat
The report found that social engineering emerged as the most favourite tool used by hackers to barge into the computer networks. “It is the easiest way adversaries can find their way into systems that quickly patch against known security vulnerabilities and limit remote access,” the report said.
“Users fell for phishing scams three times more frequently than users downloaded trojans, with an average of 29 out of every 10,000 enterprise users clicking on a phishing link each month in 2023,” he said.
