SINGAPORE: A majority of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their operations, but may not be doing enough to ensure their security.
A recent survey of business owners by the Association of SMEs (ASME) found that 90 per cent of respondents had tried implementing some form of AI solution. Some areas they are using such technology for include logistics and routing, said ASME president Ang Yuit.
At the same time, the association has seen a year-on-year increase of about 20 per cent in the number of companies reporting falling prey to scams.
“Many businesses are concerned about whether they can be hacked, and whether they would lose money financially, especially when a breach happens,” he said.
Their concerns are not linked only to AI, but to other breaches such as phishing and fraud, he added. Despite their fears, many are willing to take a “wait and see” approach towards improving their security, he said.
A member firm recently got attacked with a phishing fraud where its email system was breached, and an attacker posed as an employee and asked a customer to transfer money to another bank account, he shared.
“More and more businesses are attacked with variations of that. So you can imagine with the advent of even better phishing fraud, using deepfakes and using AI, that will get even worse,” he said.
“The challenge is that many businesses may not have the bandwidth, especially when you’re talking about SMEs, to really properly deal with it,” he added. Most businesses rely on financial institutions like banks to be their vanguard against scams, he said.
