AI could fuel a “boom” in the cybersecurity industry rather than killing it, MSPs predicted during this special IT Channel Oxygen podcast, in partnership with LevelBlue.
In episode 1 of the podcast (see here), LevelBlue channel leader Cian Harrington laid out cyber’s most under-rated threats as he reflected on its journey to becoming the world’s largest MSSP.
Episode 2 (watch above) zones in on the threat posed by AI.
“It’s definitely not going to kill the security industry”
During the podcast, Ed Williams, VP of Penetration Testing at LevelBlue, acknowledged that attackers are currently winning the AI race against the industry, before quickly adding, “we’ll catch up”.
The advent of Claude Code Security and other AI-powered cyber tools has stirred debate over the future of the cyber industry, with some predicting some traditional cyber offerings could be rendered obsolete.
But Darren Kewley, Technical Director at Protos Networks, claimed certain cyber roles – including those in governance, risk and compliance – will be in greater demand as the industry plays catch up on AI-fuelled attacks.
“It’s definitely not going to kill the security industry,” he told host Sara Driscoll.
“From a SOC or Blue Team perspective, those Level 1 roles are something AI is quite good at. But then adding context around, ‘this organisation does this’, that’s where machines aren’t as good as humans,” he said.
“I think we’re going to see a bit of a boom in cybersecurity as people try to catch up with it.”
To fight AI-powered attacks, UBDS Digital is building AI-powered tools on top of its traditional zero-trust offering for customers, its Chief Security Architect Fred Tromp said, meanwhile.
“Because of the speed and complexity of what comes through, you can’t use a standard system to defeat that. You need to basically fight AI with AI,” he said.
Customers’ cybersecurity concerns around AI fall into three categories, in the form of “anxiety, control and trust”, Tromp added.
Ultimately, AI is “just another tool for [attackers] to get ahead”, LevelBlue’s Williams stressed.
“If they’re not winning, they’re certainly on a par, and we’re always playing catch up,” he said.
Don’t miss episode 3 of this special IT Channel Oxygen podcast, where we’ll be talking to LevelBlue and its partners about how deepfakes are becoming ever more common and clever.
This article was produced in association with LevelBlue and is classified as partner content. What is partner content? See more here.
