I have said this a couple of times in past articles, and I stand by it: The use of generative AI presents a double-edged sword for organizations.
Notably, a recent survey by Accenture backs this claim.
According to the survey, 97% of respondents believe GenAI has the potential to be transformative, yet only 31% have made significant investments. This data suggests that organizations recognize GenAI's transformative power but struggle to navigate the associated risks and effectively scale its implementation.
On the one hand, GenAI offers a wealth of benefits. It automates tasks, personalizes customer experiences and accelerates innovation. All great.
On the other hand, malicious actors also have access to GenAI and use it to create deepfakes, manipulate social media content or launch phishing campaigns with near-perfect replicas of legitimate communications. These attacks pose a significant threat to data security and brand reputation.
The challenge for organizations lies in striking a balance. The challenge for organizations lies in striking a balance. To reap the rewards of GenAI, they must invest in security measures.
Palo Alto Networks and Accenture are working together to help solve this for joint clients, by letting them work toward a secure AI future through intentional design, deployment and use of AI that creates value while also improving cybersecurity outcomes.
“Generative AI is being adopted by companies across industries as the No. 1 lever for reinvention. It is also a moment of reinvention for cybersecurity – creating new risks, but also providing new tools,” said Karthik Narain, Group Chief Executive — Technology at Accenture. “Accenture and Palo Alto Networks are helping clients confidently navigate each phase of their AI journey, ensuring cybersecurity is prioritized right from the outset.”
Palo Alto Networks innovates to outpace cyberthreats, so organizations can embrace technology with confidence. Accenture is a global professional services company that helps businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services.
The "Secure AI by Design" initiative from the expanded partnership aims to create a secure AI ecosystem throughout the entire AI lifecycle, from data ingestion to model deployment. This multi-layered approach addresses key security concerns.
The combined offering protects the data and AI framework throughout its lifecycle, from data intake and processing to model training and deployment. This helps mitigate vulnerabilities that could be exploited during any stage.
Utilizing Palo Alto Networks' AI Security Posture Management and AI Access Security tools, Accenture's offering helps organizations discover and manage potential risks within their AI environments. This allows for proactive defense measures.
Palo Alto Networks' suite of AI security products, powered by Precision AI, offers advanced threat detection and prevention capabilities. When combined with Accenture's expertise, this helps organizations identify and block AI-generated attacks, secure data with application- and user-based policy controls and address AI-specific threats through expert guidance and secure development practices.
Both companies are committed to promoting ethical and responsible AI adoption. This includes using AI cybersecurity assessments to establish a foundation for secure and responsible practices throughout an organization.
“With Accenture, we're uniting Precision AI-powered solutions and services expertise, helping our joint customers use the best of AI to create value for their business today and in the future — with better real-time security outcomes,” said Nikesh Arora, chairman and CEO at Palo Alto Networks. “The expansion of our partnership underscores the critical importance of a strong AI ecosystem for customers."
Additionally, Palo Alto Networks will collaborate closely with Accenture Security as a design partner to develop and customize Palo Alto Networks AI Runtime Security to meet specific client needs, and better protect AI-powered business applications, models and enterprise data in real-time from AI-specific and foundational cyberattacks.
Edited by
Alex Passett
