A staggering 92% of enterprise PCs are ill-prepared to deal with the emerging security challenges ushered in by the AI revolution, warned a report by Absolute Security, a leading professional services provider in the realm of cybersecurity.

The warning came as part of the recent Absolute Security Cyber Resilience Risk Index 2024 report, which scrutinised data from over five million endpoint devices to gain its findings. The report uncovers a troubling trend in enterprise-level cyber-readiness, revealing that the majority of PCs do not possess the sufficient RAM capacity needed to support AI technologies. The implication of this is clear: firms will need to actively replace entire fleets of devices in order to maintain security and compliance throughout mass deployments of digital infrastructure.

The Absolute Security reports further shed light on the continued delays experienced by many industries in patching software vulnerabilities. The slow response to these weaknesses leaves endpoints exposed to potential threats. Moreover, to keep pace with the development of AI-based technologies, most enterprise PCs will need to be replaced. This presents not only a logistical challenge but also introduces a number of compliance and security issues, particularly in the sectors of education and government. These areas were revealed to be the slowest in patching, taking an average of 119 and 82 days respectively.

The report also highlighted a worrying trend linked to the effectiveness of PC Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) and network access security applications; when these are not supported by automated remediation technologies, they fail to perform effectively 24% of the time. Even more disconcerting, the research found that unsupported EPPs are not present at all on almost 14% of examined devices, thereby introducing a slew of high-risk security gaps.

Christy Wyatt, CEO of Absolute Security, provided commentary on the findings, utilising the opportunity to call for greater attention to be placed on effective prevention strategies. "As an industry we are intently focused on the inevitable attack coming, breach waiting to happen, and disruption around the next corner. Not enough attention is paid to the simple strategies that can dramatically increase your resilience to ensure you remain resistant to vulnerabilities and can recover quickly," Wyatt cautioned.

Wyatt further stressed the importance of cyber resilience in the context of the current technological landscape, explaining the paradigm as extending beyond traditional cybersecurity. "It's about ensuring that your digital operations, which are the heart of your organisation, can withstand and quickly recover from cyberattacks, technical malfunctions, deliberate tampering, and new deployments." With stakes continually rising and the pressing need to incorporate AI and other innovations to maintain competitiveness, the words of the Absolute Security CEO ring particularly poignant.

The Absolute Security Cyber Resilience Risk Index 2024 report utilised data gleaned from over five million PCs in use by more than 21,000 customers globally. In addition, Absolute Security has been undergoing its own rebirth, announcing its name change - it was formerly known as Absolute Software - and unveiling its new vision for a new standard in enterprise Cyber Resilience.