The Business Case for AI and Cybersecurity Initiatives

From chatbot conversations to productivity improvements, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have become critical tools in 21st-century business. The increasing reliance on AI presents tremendous opportunities. However, those opportunities come with significant challenges. Security and privacy risks pose some of the greatest threats, including data breaches, privacy issues, and copyright infringement. 

Higher education is playing an increasingly important role in successfully combating those risks. Education pathways can empower professionals with the tools to optimize their business processes while accounting for cyber risk. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Online Master of Science in Business Cybersecurity, for one, investigates the intersection of business and cybersecurity, equipping professionals with the skills required to manage cybersecurity within the context of strategic and operational objectives.

Exploring the Overlap of AI and Business

Businesses employ AI at the micro and macro levels and everywhere in between. Typical uses include customer service, cybersecurity and fraud management, digital personal assistants, customer relationships and inventory management. The technology makes it easier to target prospective customers, guard against cyber threats and improve business processes. Consider Lyft: the company maximizes revenue through an algorithm that assesses ride requests, driver location and other system dynamics.

But business owners also worry that AI can cause them to lose ground in online searches, become overdependent on technology, and face increased security and privacy risks. For all its advantages, AI can introduce vulnerabilities that impair or jeopardize business operations. The Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) cites three key AI security risks:

• Access risks associated with exploited privileges and unauthorized actions.
• Data risks such as data manipulation or loss of services.
• Reputational and business risks resulting from bad AI outputs or actions.

Evaluating the Artificial Intelligence Threat Landscape

Let’s take a closer look at the risks. Cybercrime losses will rise from $3 trillion in 2015 to $10.5 trillion in 2025, CSO reports. A typical data breach carries a recovery cost estimated at $3.86 million, according to Altexsoft.

Attack strategies include that old standby, phishing, alongside emerging methods such as data poisoning, SEO poisoning and AI-enabled threat actors. AI’s power and learning capacity make it a formidable foe. People are more likely to open AI-generated phishing emails than those created manually, according to CNBC. Hackers can use AI to identify patterns that allow them to exploit weaknesses in software or security programs.

One of the best-known AI chatbots, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, suffered a data breach in early 2023, exposing a small percentage of its users’ financial and other personal information. In 2018, hackers attacked the freelance marketplace TaskRabbit using an AI-controlled botnet, gaining access to Social Security numbers and bank account information from 3.75 million users. The site had to shut down until the problem could be fixed.

How to Pair Business Goals with Cybersecurity Measures

Business cybersecurity professionals must understand how to optimize operations using AI while preserving security measures. A combination of practices, technologies and procedures constitutes business cybersecurity. Together, they protect an organization’s computer systems, networks, data and other digital assets from unauthorized access, cyberattacks and data breaches. Business cybersecurity aims to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information as well as safeguard the overall functioning of business operations in the digital realm.

The skill set needed for effective cybersecurity has become more valuable than ever in the AI era. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville offers a pathway to becoming well-versed in the field that bridges the gap between business and cyber teams.

Align AI Security Measures with Organizational Success at UT

Business cybersecurity, an emerging field with enormous potential, requires a combination of technical training and business acumen. The Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville offers that combination with its Online MS in Business Cybersecurity (MSBC). The program covers the aptitudes students need to place cybersecurity at the forefront of business strategy. 

The curriculum includes core cybersecurity and business tenets. Regardless of whether your background is in technology or business, you will leave the program well-versed in the fundamentals of both areas. Studies progress from basic principles through higher-level conceptual courses such as Business Security Governance and Ethics and Risk Management and Business Continuity. Online coursework enables students to complete the program without relocating. They can live and work where they please as they earn their degree. 

The MSBC allows students to apply business cybersecurity best practices in real-time. America’s businesses need 3.4 million professionals to fill the cybersecurity workforce gap. MSBC graduates go on to become:

• Cybersecurity analysts, developing technical infrastructure that protects information systems and assets from cyber threats.
• IT directors, overseeing digital strategies, operations and teams to ensure effective cybersecurity infrastructure and alignment with organizational goals.
• IT technical consultants, auditing existing security frameworks and providing organizations with comprehensive network solutions to mitigate cyber threats. 

Take the First Step Toward a Future-Focused Degree

As AI gives rise to new cybersecurity tools as well as cybersecurity threats, C-suites seek managers and directors who thoroughly understand AI’s impact in business settings. The MSBC provides a solution for professionals who want to bridge the gap between cybersecurity initiatives and business outcomes.

The program offers:

• The strategic business framework of a traditional business master’s degree program taught through the cybersecurity lens.
• Synchronous and asynchronous sessions, allowing you to interact with others part of the time while working at your own pace and on your schedule otherwise.
• A robust support system, with faculty and staff readily available to answer questions and help you work through problems.
• A hands-on capstone project in which students build cybersecurity solutions and communicate their plans externally.

Students who earn an MSBC graduate with an interdisciplinary understanding of technical evolutions in the field and the skills to mitigate new cyber threats. Learning the mechanisms of effective cybersecurity strategies in a business context prepares graduates to step into leadership roles.

Ready to take the first step down an exciting new career path? Contact the UTK MSBC enrollment team or begin your application.