01732 759725 magazine 05 BULLETIN attack surface, in many cases without realising it.” He added: “It is not a question of whether there is shadow AI usage within an enterprise, but whether you have the ability to detect it, govern it and secure it before an issue arises. Our research shows that most enterprises need to take rapid action to gain visibility and control of their AI usage.” www.catonetworks.com … Number of cyber security jobs triples in five years Over the last five years, cyber security has been the fifth fastest-growing profession in the UK, with the number of people employed in the sector tripling from 28,500 in 2021 to 83,700 in 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey. Cyber security company Socura points out that in the UK cyber security professionals now outnumber bricklayers, architects, vets, farm workers and army officers. One thing that hasn’t changed since 2021 is the lack of gender diversity in the sector. Currently just one in five cyber security professionals is female and over the last five years the number of female cyber security professionals has grown at a slower rate than the overall number (163% vs. 194%). Dr Clare Johnson, Founder of In Cato Networks’ survey of more than 600 IT leaders in North America, EMEA and APJ, 61% of respondents said they have found unauthorised AI tools in their environment and more than half (53%) said they are highly or extremely concerned about AI security risks. Yet only 26% have solutions in place to monitor AI adoption and usage, meaning that most enterprises remain oblivious to the AI tools employees are using, the data they are sharing and what compliance risks may be emerging. Almost half of respondents (49%) either don’t track AI usage or only address it on a reactive basis. This governance gap extends beyond oversight and monitoring. Only 13% of respondents consider their organisation’s management of shadow AI risks to be ‘highly effective’ and just 9% think their organisation has a ‘highly effective’ defence against AI-generated cyber threats such as deepfakes, hallucinations and prompt injection attacks. Commenting on the findings, Etay Maor, Chief Security Strategist at Cato Networks, said: “In many enterprises, AI adoption is happening from the bottom up. Employees are always going to gravitate towards using the AI tools they feel comfortable with. However, without proper visibility and governance, enterprises are expanding their leaving 1.01 million at a significant disadvantage. The five local authorities with the largest number of SMEs that don’t have full-fibre access are Buckinghamshire (16,972), Cornwall (15,453), North Yorkshire (14,941), Wiltshire (12,554) and Somerset (12,187). https://www.uswitch.com/ broadband/business-broadband/ … AI creating ‘two-speed’ angel investor market SyndicateRoom, a UK-based investment platform specialising in venture capital, warns that AI is creating a ‘two-speed’ angel investor market in the UK, characterised by a high-octane race for AI infrastructure on one side and a calculated, value-driven approach to the broader ecosystem on the other. In its analysis of market trends, it quotes an unnamed ‘super-angel’ who said: “There is a polarisation between highly competitive and often over-priced rounds for AI infra on the one hand and market reluctance to fund A and B rounds for promising non-AI businesses.” SyndicateRoom says two notable consequences of this trend are high barriers for non-AI companies looking to raise funds and increased difficulty for angels wanting to access the AI space as Tier 1 VCs are entering the seed stage earlier and earlier. The three sectors it expects to see the largest increases in investment this year are deep tech, agentic AI and climate tech, which it says has moved from a ‘niche’ interest to a ‘core pillar of the sophisticated portfolio’. … Better visibility and control needed to counter Shadow AI risk Most organisations lack monitoring capabilities and governance policies needed to mitigate risks posed by shadow AI, warns SASE leader Cato Networks. Shadow AI operates much like shadow IT, with unauthorised technology being adopted to solve an immediate problem. However, the risks tied to data processing, model training and the lack of clear AI decision-making present major security concerns. continued... Power of audio EPOS, now part of ACCO Brands, is encouraging businesses to invest in headsets/headphones to minimise the downsides of working in a busy, noisy open plan environment. In a recent online survey, 34% of EPOS customers cited the ability to minimise distractions as the number one benefit of headsets, ahead of greater call clarity due to the quality/performance of microphones (31%) and enhanced focus from Active Noise Cancellation technology’s ability to manage noise levels (21%). Steven Schmidt, VP of Global Commercial Innovation & Marketing at EPOS, said: “In open offices, focus is fragile and being heard matters more than ever. 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