11 Nov South Africa’s AI demand is a ‘triple edged sword’

South Africa’s cybersecurity services industry is set for expansion, with an anticipated market revenue of R16.5 billion by 2029, as outlined in the latest report from BMI TechKnowledge Group.

The study forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 20.3 per cent, an increase largely driven by accelerated digitalisation and strong demand from the financial services sector.

However, evolving threats pose issues, as many companies are now hesitating to increase their cybersecurity budgets.

BMIT Managing Director Chris Geerdts told Tech Central that this artificial intelligence is seen as a ‘triple-edged sword,’ because of its dual role in both attacks and defence, while also serving as a potential target for exploitation.

The South African market is known to be fragmented, with approximately 2,500 firms offering various cybersecurity services, many of which make overlapping or exaggerated claims regarding their expertise.

This situation is exacerbated by significant local and global skills shortages, which then prompts companies to turn to managed security services and automation to address in-house capability gaps.

AI technology is also a double-edged sword, contributing to increasing incidents of deepfakes, automated phishing, data-stealing malware, and disinformation campaigns. Also, threat actors have begun to hijack AI models within cloud environments, raising the stakes further.

The report also considers the ‘human factor’ challenge, identifying employee behaviour and leadership attitudes as significant vulnerabilities.

Despite heightened awareness, many executives fail to recognise their exposure to risks, often resisting necessary organisational and budgetary changes to strengthen their security posture. Meanwhile, technical teams frequently struggle to communicate complex threats in terms that resonate with board members.

As cloud adoption and zero-trust network access redefine security management across dispersed systems, endpoint protection technologies are projected to experience some of the strongest growth in the sector, with an annualised expansion rate of 15.5 per cent expected by 2029.

As for the future, the report cautions that ‘shadow AI’ (unregulated GenAI tools) has now emerged as one of the top three cost-amplifying breach risks.