Why AI Risk Visibility Is the Future of Enterprise Cybersecurity Strategy: Q&A With Srikanth Ambatipudi

The cybersecurity industry is undergoing rapid transformation as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing enable new approaches to threat detection, risk assessment, and threat mitigation. It’s crucial for organizations to advance their risk management capabilities to keep pace with hackers who now deploy these technologies to launch faster and more complex intrusions.

Srikanth Ambatipudi brings a distinctive perspective to this security challenge. He is an IT leader with 27 years of experience in financial system security, advanced cybersecurity education, consulting, and auditing across the insurance, banking, oil and gas, mining, and manufacturing sectors. In this Q&A, Ambatipudi explains how proactive, AI-driven risk visibility reshapes cybersecurity programs and why it’s becoming a foundational element of enterprise strategy.

Q: AI and quantum computing receive significant attention. How are these technologies reshaping the cybersecurity threat environment?

Ambatipudi: Attackers can now use AI to crack passwords, identify weak access points, and execute credential theft attacks faster than before. When adversaries enhance AI with quantum computing, the time required to break encryption and access sensitive systems drops significantly.

At the same time, these tools provide defenders with new advantages. Machine learning (ML) models can process millions of network traffic records to pinpoint anomalies that previously required hours of manual analysis. AI-based pattern recognition helps identify abnormal behavior early in the attack lifecycle.

Q: How does a proactive risk visibility framework deliver stronger protection than traditional assessment practices?

Ambatipudi: Traditional risk assessment processes rely significantly on manual effort, even when supported by tools. This creates gaps. A proactive, AI-supported framework completes assessments faster and more accurately.

The process starts with identifying all assets, servers, applications, and datasets, and then understanding their importance to business operations. Once the organization establishes this baseline, it moves into risk assessment, priority setting, and high-impact area identification.

Q: Vulnerability management is always a challenge. How can enterprises better identify weaknesses and allocate resources effectively?

Ambatipudi: Vulnerabilities arise from two sources: internal infrastructure and third-party tools that companies rely on. Organizations typically have stronger control over internally developed systems. The complexity stems from third-party software that introduces new risks whenever a new version or patch is released. A comprehensive asset inventory is essential for documenting the software and hardware resources in use.

Once the enterprise knows what it has, it can evaluate which systems pose the highest risk. Asset management, infrastructure, and information security teams, along with audit functions, all contribute to that assessment. Together, they can determine where remediation must occur first.

Cloud service providers are responsible for cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) applications. It’s vital, however, for the company to take on data governance and service offboarding responsibilities. Contracts must clearly specify how data is handled, transferred, or destroyed at the end of the relationship.

Q: What metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) help demonstrate whether a proactive cybersecurity strategy is delivering value?

Ambatipudi: For most organizations, IT functions as a cost center. It’s essential to implement metrics collection and reporting mechanisms that demonstrate how cybersecurity initiatives deliver ongoing business value. Examples of KPIs include financial metrics (budget spent and forecasts), schedule metrics (accomplished and pending milestones), resource utilization metrics, and user and stakeholder metrics.

Project-level metrics help measure progress in real time and indicate whether predefined milestones have been met. If testing reveals issues closer to a deployment milestone, metrics help the organization decide whether to extend deadlines or adjust scope.

Q: Can you share an example of how proactive visibility can influence executive decision-making?

Ambatipudi: Yes. I served as a member of the Change Acceptance Board (CAB) representing the internal audit division of my organization. A project to integrate two enterprise products to improve revenue performance was scheduled to go live. During the CAB review, we identified that portions of functional and integration testing were either unsuccessful or incomplete. The project teams requested a three-month delay to the go-live date, which would have added $3 million to the budget. With structured visibility into the project’s financial impact, executive leadership determined that additional enhancements would not deliver sufficient value to justify the delay. The project was launched on time with a narrower scope.

Q: As AI adoption accelerates, which emerging trends concern you most?

Ambatipudi: Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) stands out. It mirrors legitimate cloud service models, except that the product is ransomware. Attackers often remain inside a network for months, learning how systems work and collecting admin-level access. Once they understand the environment, they deploy the ransomware payload. RaaS lowers the barrier to entry, enabling more attackers to replicate this model. It is innovative in a technical sense but deeply concerning in its implications.

Q: From an executive leadership perspective, what strategic guidance is most critical right now?

Ambatipudi: Alignment between business and IT leadership is essential. The chief information officer (CIO) approves the IT project kickoff and allocates the required budget and other resources. The business analysis team translates those needs into technical requirements. Quarterly scorecards and governance checkpoints create visibility, enabling leaders to make decisions that balance business outcomes and technical realities.

Vision is also critical. Leaders must understand that cybersecurity is more than a defensive function. It supports growth, regulatory compliance, and operational continuity. The more strategic and integrated the program becomes, the more value it delivers to the organization.

Preparing for what’s next

The combination of AI and quantum technologies is giving organizations new opportunities to strengthen their cybersecurity programs while enabling them to defend against attacks at greater scale. As automation spreads across the security stack, visibility will become even more important. The expanding use of SaaS-connected devices and machine-generated code introduces new risks that traditional tools may miss. Organizations that build proactive risk visibility systems can detect vulnerabilities before they escalate while minimizing their dependence on human-based security processes. By maintaining strong business-IT leadership connections and risk visibility as a strategic capability rather than an operational task, enterprises can gain sharper insight into what matters most.

Paul Chaney is a seasoned writer, editor, and content strategist who helps businesses craft compelling, ethical marketing narratives through his consultancy, Prescriptive Writing. With a focus on clarity, authenticity, and responsible communication, Paul empowers organizations to tell their stories with purpose and precision. Connect with him on LinkedIn.