Pentesters say they see AI as a competitor in cybersecurity

IN new Bugcrowd report for 2023 It is noted that generative AI is becoming an increasingly important tool in the world of hacking. However, 72% of hackers believe that AI cannot replace the human mind.

According to the study:

1. 55% of respondents say that generative AI is already outperforming hackers or will be able to do so within the next five years.
2. 72% of respondents believe that generative AI will not be able to replicate the creativity of hackers in security research and vulnerability management.
3. Generative AI is used to automate tasks (50%), analyze data (48%), identify vulnerabilities (36%), validate results (35%), and conduct intelligence (33%).
4. 64% believe that generative AI technologies have added value to ethical hacking and security research.

The study also analyzed the demographics of hackers:

1. Most of them belong to generation Z (57%) and millennials (28%).
2. Only 5% of the subjects are under 18 and only 2% are over 45.
3. 96% of respondents identified as male, 4% as female, and 0.2% as non-binary.

The report highlights that the majority of hackers (82%) do not hack full-time, with only 29% describing hacking as their main occupation. Motivation for ethical hacking includes personal development (28%), financial gain (24%), excitement (14%) and challenge (12%).

About the education of hackers it is worth noting the following:

1. More than half of the respondents (54%) graduated from college, and 14% received a master’s degree.
2. Only 24% learned hacking through academic or professional courses.
3. 71% of hackers are self-taught, 84% learned hacking through online resources, others learned by trial and error (40%) or from friends and mentors (34%).

The report ends with the conclusion that hacking is increasingly being used for career development, with 42% of respondents saying that building long-term relationships with security executives and brands is one of their main goals when hacking. In addition, 53% of those surveyed said that hacking helped them get a remote job.