Organisations Urged to Adopt AI-centric Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Threats in 2024

Stories By Emma Okonji

Following the global cybersecurity projection in 2024 that organisations would be faced with proliferation of AI-driven threats, a cybersecurity expert and Founder, Lynsec Cyber Security and GoLeget Africa, Mr. Remi Afon, has urged organisations in Nigeria to adopt a comprehensive AI-centric defence strategies, that would help to counter the multifaceted AI-driven threats in 2024.

According to him, the year 2023 witnessed a notable surge in the utilisation of AI, notably marked by the increased adoption of Generative AI, including platforms like ChatGPT. 

He however said in 2024, the global cybersecurity landscape will experience proliferation of AI-driven threats taking centre stage. 

He said in 2024, there would be an alarming trend on the cybersecurity horizon that would lead to potential misuse of advanced language models, such as ChatGPT, by cybercriminals. 

“As these models become more sophisticated, there’s a risk of threat actors employing them to craft highly convincing phishing messages, social engineering tactics, and even automated attacks that exploit human-like interactions.

” Cybercriminals will continue to leverage ChatGPT to generate realistic-sounding emails or messages, making it challenging for individuals to discern between legitimate and malicious communications. This poses a significant challenge for traditional email filtering and security measures. The 2024 evolving threat landscape will include the ominous use of AI for crafting malware, posing an increased risk to organisations. Malicious actors leveraging AI to design sophisticated and evasive malware will further strain cybersecurity defences, demanding innovative strategies to detect and neutralise these AI-generated threats.

Additionally, the threat of AI-driven Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks looms large. Cyber attackers are likely to exploit AI to orchestrate more complex and adaptive DDoS assaults, overwhelming organisations’ online infrastructure,” Afon said. 

He however said addressing the threat would require the integration of sophisticated AI-based detection mechanisms to identify and mitigate the impact of deepfakes on various fronts, including misinformation and reputational damage.