AI Adoption Prioritized in Cybersecurity Amid Growing Hybrid Cloud Expansion

AI is transforming cybersecurity by enabling defenses that learn and adapt in real time, crucial as organizations face growing threats from sophisticated attacks and expanded attack surfaces like hybrid clouds and IoT devices. In SAP systems, AI-driven security tools are automating threat detection and proactive patching to counter AI-powered cyberattacks, helping enterprises protect critical business operations. Retail security is evolving from isolated hardware setups to cloud-connected AI analytics platforms, enhancing loss prevention and operational efficiency amid increasing organized retail crime. However, AI also empowers attackers by lowering the barrier to launching complex cyberattacks, including personalized phishing and deepfakes, raising new risks that corporate boards and insurers now prioritize. Furthermore, supply chain security remains vulnerable as malicious code can bypass traditional defenses through compromised maintainers and CI/CD pipelines, emphasizing the need for stringent verification and control measures like SBOMs and policy-as-code. Overall, while AI offers powerful tools to strengthen cybersecurity, it simultaneously introduces new challenges that require integrated, adaptive strategies across industries.