CCI staff share recent surveys, reports and analysis on risk, compliance, governance, infosec and leadership issues. Share details of your survey with us: editor@corporatecomplianceinsights.com.
About 50% of cybersecurity professionals trust autonomous AI with narrowly defined tasks
Security leaders remain cautious about giving agentic AI more control of their operations, according to a new survey by AI cybersecurity company Arctic Wolf.
In a global survey of 1,350 security and IT decision-makers, 53% said they trust AI to perform narrowly defined security actions, such as blocking malicious IP addresses or domains, but they were less optimistic about using agents for tasks like automatically patching known vulnerabilities (just over 40%) or dismissing alerts believe to be non-issues (just under 30%). That lack of confidence in autonomous AI is underscored by the finding that only 14% of those surveyed have made AI central to their security operations strategy. About 50% cited data privacy concerns and lack of human intuition as barriers to faster agentic AI adoption. Concerns about accountability and risk of inaccurate outcomes were also factors, the survey found.
Despite the trust issues with AI, the technology is nonetheless a prerequisite for modern security operations, according to the survey. A vast majority (94%) of organizations use large language models (LLMs), and 51% consider AI functionality a requirement when evaluating vendors. More than four in five (85%) believe AI will improve their ability to detect new or elusive threats, while 72% believe AI is more capable than humans at identifying threats.
AI is a doubled-edged sword, though, as AI attacks increasingly worry security and IT leaders, the report found. More than a third (35%) cited AI as their single biggest cybersecurity risk, surpassing ransomware and malware for the second year.
AI investment must show ROI for finance leaders
While a significant majority of financial leaders plan to increase spending on AI, most want to see a return on investment before putting any more money into finance tech, according to a survey by invoice management software provider Basware and Forrester.
More than three-fourths (76%) of 231 enterprise finance leaders in the US, UK, France and Germany said they plan to increase AI investment over the next two years, while 68% reported they need ROI before spending any more funds on finance technology.
Finance teams have already invested in AI, but they’re struggling to scale the technology, according to the survey. About two-thirds (67%) already use AI for specific accounts payable (AP) cases.
The survey also found that finance leaders prioritize compliance. About two in three (64%) said they favor stability and compliance over raw innovation when choosing AI. Nearly half (46%) believe they have struck an effective balance between governance and innovation, while 65% said major or urgent improvement is needed to adjust to new financial regulations.
77% of companies say supply chain and workforce risk have risen
Supply chain and workforce risks have risen over the past year for more than three-quarters of companies, according to a survey by supply chain compliance platform Avetta.
In a survey of 500 senior supply chain and safety managers of large US companies, 77% reported that global supply chain and workforce risk increased in the past 12 months with more than two-thirds (68%) experiencing workforce-related operational delays or shutdowns during the same period.
Limitations in understanding supplier-side risks are a factor in these delays and shutdowns, the survey found. More than a third (38%) of respondents cited limited visibility into third-party risk as a major barrier to effective vulnerability response.
Companies are struggling with changing compliance requirements, according to the survey. Almost three-fourths (71%) said compliance requirements have grown more complex over the past year, with 42% indicating that this increased complexity is a leading barrier to effective risk response.
The survey also looked into supply chain and workforce managers’ use of AI and found nearly every organization surveyed (97%) is using AI in supply chain risk management, while widescale deployment is still in the works. Only 38% reported AI is fully embedded across operations.
