Healthcare cybersecurity is a Gordian Knot problem—complex, difficult, and essential—but AI might provide the sword.

Andrea Abell, CISO at pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, is utilizing the technology available for all sorts of tasks. During a conversation with IT Brew at CES earlier this month, Abell said she uses AI “across the board.” Defenders should assume threat actors are doing the same.

“If we are looking to defend [against] generative AI, we have to think about all of the places that an attacker can take advantage of it,” Abell said.

Seeking out. Likening threat detection to finding a needle in a haystack, Abell said that she believes AI can make the haystack smaller and speed up the hunt, especially when combined with human knowledge. Agentic AI also has a role to play, especially in threat modeling.

Here’s how to get it right.—EH

As threat actors become more sophisticated, and datasets grow immense, some professionals think the IT industry’s golden 3-2-1 backup rule might be long overdue for an upgrade.

The 3-2-1 rule—not to be confused with the popular technique used to smoke flavorful BBQ ribs—is a longtime best practice that helps organizations and professionals protect their data in the event of physical and digital emergencies. Organizations are encouraged to have three copies of their data on two different types of mediums, with one being stored off-site.

Druva CTO Stephen Manley told IT Brew that the backup rule is one of the few things in the industry that predates him. Its effectiveness stems from its “reasonable common sense” approach to ensuring resilience. “That was the genesis of the rule: I want multiple copies, I want them to store them on something different, and I want to store them far enough away that it can be resilient to some sort of reasonable blast radius.”

Should we put 3-2-1 to rest?—BM

Bubble or not, here they come.

A study from professional-services firm Accenture, released on January 15, found that execs are investing in AI—and would keep the investments going, even if the larger AI bubble…popped:

• Almost 9 in ten (86%) C-suite leaders plan to up their AI investments.
• Less than half (46%) of leaders say they would keep the investments going even in the event of a market correction—often defined as a market decline of more than 10%.
• More than three-quarters of respondents (78%) see AI “as more beneficial to revenue growth than cost reduction,” an increase from 65% in June 2024.

The global survey polled 3,650 execs from orgs with annual revenues greater than $500 million.

Given investment enthusiasm, Muqsit Ashraf, group chief executive for strategy at Accenture, says organizations that hold back on the emerging tech risk getting beat by competitors.

Read more about how to start building in value.—BH

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