The rise of the ‘bionic hacker’ -- AI’s impact on attack and defense
The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming both attack and defense according to a report released today by crowdsourced security platform HackerOne.
It finds that organizations have expanded their AI program adoption by 270 percent this year, while HackerOne’s platform reported a 540 percent surge in prompt injection vulnerabilities to make them the fastest-growing threat in AI security.
“AI demands a different approach to risk and resilience,” says Kara Sprague, CEO of HackerOne. “AI vulnerabilities increased by more than 200 percent this year, while enterprises expanded AI security initiatives at nearly three times last year’s pace. At the same time, a new generation of ‘bionic hackers’ -- security researchers using AI to enhance their hunting abilities -- are driving the discovery of security issues at unprecedented scale. The organizations that thrive will be those that evolve with AI and tap into the expertise of security researchers in both testing and response.”
Researchers are increasingly AI-native, 70 percent of those surveyed now use AI tools in their workflow, making AI-powered testing the new industry standard. To support this, HackerOne is previewing Hai for Hackers, a new AI-powered capability designed to supercharge security research workflows by streamlining communication, improving report quality, and accelerating impact.
HackerOne’s bug bounty programs collectively paid out $81 million, an increase of 13 percent over last year. Fully autonomous hackbots are emerging too, autonomous agents submitted over 560 valid reports, signaling the start of the hackbot arms race.
You can get the report on the HackerOne site and there will be a webinar on 15th October at 12 noon ET to present the findings in more detail.
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