2023 was no doubt the “year of generative AI” in many business sectors.
In governance, risk, and compliance (GRC), and particularly in cyber risk management, AI is sought after for its ability to continuously operate, analyze complex and disparate datasets, and turn risks into rewards. Generative AI, a subset of AI, interests risk leaders for its ability to enhance the agility of GRC programs, enabling faster adaptation to risk.
As a result, IT and cyber teams are investing in AI and generative AI programs to protect themselves against increasing cyberattacks and keep up with rapidly changing regulations. There are several ways organizations can prepare for internal changes when AI and generative AI are integrated into an existing cybersecurity program.
Preparing For AI risk And Other Deployments
Organizations are adopting new technology to remain competitive and are undergoing major digital transformation in the process. These changes mean that companies face new risks. Payment gateway integrations, backend data exchanges, and cloud computing services are just a few of the investment decisions that increase a business’ potential attack surface and introduce risks that must be controlled. AI is another. The hot topic of how to integrate generative AI into daily operations is the buzz of the boardroom. Lured by the promise of hyper-efficiency, organizations are keen to know how they can fit predictive modeling and machine-powered conversational tools into the customer experience.
Adoption of AI introduces an organization to a specific set of risks. AI will be generating conclusions, and its accuracy is proportionate to how much data it is fed. Adverse impacts can result if data integrity goes unchecked or inadequate security architecture leads to data leakage. Cyber teams must understand AI assets and impacts before implementation and be able to explain these to compliance officers, who will establish a framework for risk assessment. Even organizations with a high-risk appetite are relying on IT and front-line stakeholders to understand how AI touches the business (especially the customer).
Gathering Data That Serves Leaders And The Board
Boards know that cyber teams have more on their plates than just storing and guarding data. Increased threat of cyberattacks, changes to data privacy regulation, and prevention of data leakages by AI tools are being juggled by the same team, prompting significant investment in cyber.
Cyber risk leaders may find themselves presenting these findings before the board, with both project performance and impact articulated in the name of ROI. The best way to meet this objective is to measure project outcomes in familiar metrics, such as KPIs, and to discuss potential losses in dollar value.
I discussed cyber risk quantification in a previous Forbes Business Council article, but being able to report impacts in numbers will remain a priority for CISOs and CSOs as technology investment expands. This should include dollars of potential losses, percent of risk event occurrence, and projected program ROI GRC. This enables leaders to routinely disclose an organization’s cyber risk posture and defend their investments as part of the organization’s long-term risk management.
Optimizing Resources For More Efficient GRC
One of the greatest challenges cyber risk leaders face is correcting GRC program inefficiencies for more cost-effective planning and reporting—especially those organizations that may have right-sized in 2023. How can an organization leverage its existing GRC solution to maintain compliance while remaining future-focused and prioritizing assessments for risks that are still evolving? By optimizing GRC.
GRC programs are improving exponentially every year. The newest-to-market solutions use AI to mine customer data on existing platforms and offer insights for improved performance, so organizations can “level up” their GRC without needing to purchase or migrate to a new platform.
AI-powered GRC supports advanced threat detection, predictive analytics, and real-time monitoring of regulations and controls that support compliance. The concept is to optimize, collect data from across the enterprise and make more data-driven decisions.
Setting cyber risk objectives requires knowledge of technology being deployed, as well as a way of messaging its impacts and outcomes to compliance officers and senior leadership. Effective governance must be in place to manage these risks and ensure they are correctly documented, controlled, monitored, and treated. Striking the right balance between innovation and risk mitigation is key when harnessing generative AI’s potential responsibly.
Generative AI: A Game Changer For Governance, Risk, And Compliance
Generative AI is redefining GRC by automating tasks, analyzing regulations, predicting risks, and enhancing compliance strategies. Real-time monitoring and audits are also simplified.
However, it’s crucial to acknowledge that despite its vast potential in GRC, generative AI also presents challenges like bias mitigation, ethical use, data privacy, regulatory compliance, transparency, and security. GRC practices for AI technology itself are still in development. Advancements in AI have outpaced regulators’ ability to establish guidance and frameworks that ensure its ethical and lawful use. But the tides are turning, and regulators are proactively closing the gap with requirements for existing and future applications of this technology with regulatory frameworks such as the EU’s AI Act.
Organizations with a unified GRC approach will likely find it easier to lay the groundwork for compliance, as these programs feature continuous monitoring that identifies risk and prioritizes risk assessments based on the defense posture.
Addressing these challenges demands a balance between human supervision and automation. This involves a proactive and holistic approach incorporating ethical frameworks, diverse data sources, stringent privacy measures and ongoing monitoring. Successfully achieving this equilibrium can enable organizations to harness the immense potential of generative AI for more effective and responsible GRC practices.
Source: Forbes.com
