IT leaders are becoming increasingly concerned about mounting strain on hybrid cloud infrastructure as a result of growing AI workloads, new research shows.
In a survey of more than 1,000 global security and IT leaders across Australia, France, Germany, Singapore, the UK and the US, Gigamon found that nearly half saw managing AI-related threats as their top security priority.
AI workloads have more than doubled network data volumes over the past two years, and almost half of respondents said they were seeing a rise in attacks targeting organization’s large language model (LLM) deployments.
As a result, nine-in-ten security and IT leaders said they’re having to make compromises when it comes to securing and managing hybrid cloud infrastructure.
Nearly half said they're missing comprehensive visibility across their environments, including lateral movement in 'East-West' traffic flowing between servers within a data center or between different parts of their network.
Notably, concerns are rising on the public cloud front. While once considered an acceptable risk in the rush to scale post-Covid operations, seven-in-ten respondents said public cloud now poses a greater risk than any other environment.
Key concerns highlighted by IT leaders included governance, data integrity, and intellectual property.
For example, more than half said they are reluctant to use AI in public cloud environments, citing fears around intellectual property protection.
Seven-in-ten said their organization was actively exploring the prospect of repatriating data from public to private cloud due to security concerns.
CISOs aren’t being supported
However, more than a third of CISOs said they didn't have enough influence over AI and security-related business decisions, complaining that they were held accountable without authority, visibility, or resources.
"They know what needs to change. They see where the vulnerabilities lie. But without control over security investments or executive backing, even the most well-informed Security and IT leaders are left in an untenable position: referees expected to enforce the rules without a whistle, while the game plays on around them," researchers said.
"Accountability without authority does not just limit their impact — it introduces risk the organization can’t afford to ignore."
Visibility was a prime concern, with more than half saying they lack confidence in their current tools’ ability to detect breaches, and citing limited visibility as the core issue.
Subsequently, nearly two-thirds said their number one focus for the next 12 months was achieving real-time threat monitoring with complete visibility into all data in motion.
"Security teams are struggling to keep pace with the speed of AI adoption and the growing complexity and vulnerability of public cloud environments," said Mark Jow, technical evangelist, EMEA, at Gigamon.
"With 88% of security and IT leaders agreeing it is critical to securing AI deployments, deep observability is fast becoming a strategic imperative."
MORE FROM ITPRO
-
The move to a digital network and its role in the bigger picture of achieving true digital transformation: how SMBs can set themselves up for successSupported Beyond the dial tone, the digital switchover is the key to SMB success
-
Middlesbrough Council boosts cybersecurity spending, strategy in response to repeated cyberattacksReviews Councils across the UK have publicly struggled with maintaining services in the face of major cyber disruption
-
Microsoft’s new ‘marketplace’ lets customers pick and choose cloud, AI solutionsNews The Microsoft Marketplace looks to streamline customer access to AI and cloud services
-
Mainframes are back in vogueNews Mainframes are back in vogue, according to research from Kyndryl, with enterprises ramping up hybrid IT strategies and generative AI adoption.
-
Google strikes big win with $10 billion Meta cloud dealNews As Meta continues its AI drive, the company is looking outside for the necessary infrastructure
-
UK enterprises regret going all-in on public cloudNews Data sovereignty, rising costs, and governance issues mean many IT decision-makers regret having made the move
-
Three of the biggest announcements from AWS Summit New YorkNews AWS may be known as a cloud services provider, but its pivot to AI services has taken the limelight
-
Hybrid cloud has hit the mainstream – but firms are still confused about costs
News How do you know if it's a good investment if you don't have full spending visibility?
-
Alibaba targets European cloud gains with new AI strategyNews Alibaba Cloud has launched a new suite of AI solutions as part of a strategy to foster closer ties with European enterprises.
-
AI security and compliance concerns are driving a private cloud boomNews A new survey suggests AI workloads may be a serious motivation behind moving back to private cloud and on-premise infrastructure
