DarkReading.com reports that that “During the opening keynote at Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit 2025, analysts weighed in on how CISOs and security teams can use security fervor around AI and other tech to the betterment of their security posture.” The June 9, 2025 article entitled ” Gartner: How Security Teams Can Turn Hype Into Opportunity” (https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/gartner-security-teams-hype-opportunity) included these comments about “Utilizing Hype for Cybersecurity Good”:
The presenters offered a number of stats to elaborate on how hype plays into the security ecosystem today.
Thielemann pointed out how 74% of CEOs believe generative AI (GenAI) is the technology that will most significantly impact their industries over the next three years, while 84% plan to increase their AI investments this year. Meanwhile, 85% of CEOs think cybersecurity is critical to growth, and 87% of tech leaders are increasing their cybersecurity funding.
“Across the C-suite and the board, I think our surveys are all pointing in the same direction: cyber incidents are now hitting the bottom line,” McMullen said.
He added that, while executives are paying more attention to cybersecurity, hype can also lead to hasty decisions where folks are investing too much, too fast on unproven technology. “New tech is coming, whether we’re ready for it or not,” he said.
Thielemann described a situation where a CEO calls the security team in because a competitor got hit by ransomware and is still disrupted weeks later. The CEO wants to know if something like that can happen at her company.
“You have her undivided attention, but you also have a couple of choices. You could go in a direction of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Start slipping her brochures on new ransomware protection tools hoping to get more budget, but ultimately that destroys your credibility as a trusted adviser [if the tools fail],” Thielemann said. “Or, you could show [the CEO] how your cybersecurity team has already made targeted investments that not only support the enterprise today but also future-proof for new product lines and automation.”
What do you think?
First published at https://www.vogelitlaw.com/blog/cisos-can-use-ai-security-to-help