AhnLab (053800.KQ) will invest 100 billion won ($72 million) over three years to transform itself into an "AI-native security platform company." As cyberattacks using artificial intelligence expand, the company plans to redesign its entire security operations around AI and to reach 1 trillion won in revenue by 2035, with software-as-a-service (SaaS) and overseas business as its growth engines.
AhnLab announced the plan at a press briefing on its "AI Vision" held at the Westin Parnas hotel in Seoul on the 16th.
"The speed and scale of cyberattacks using AI are changing dramatically, but our responses remain human-centered," AhnLab CEO Kang Seok-kyun said. "To overcome this security gap, we must completely change the paradigm of how we operate security." His point was that because AI is raising the productivity of attacks, defense systems must also be rebuilt around AI.
According to AhnLab, the speed of hacker attacks rose 65% from a year earlier, while the scale of AI-enabled attacks grew 89%. The company said attack automation is also spreading rapidly, with AI directly carrying out attack tasks in about 90% of AI-driven attack campaigns.
In response, AhnLab put forward "AhnLab AI Plus," an integrated brand and platform architecture. Over the past eight years, the company invested in AI and applied AI functions such as automated detection and analysis to many of its roughly 30 products and services. Going forward, it will design its products, services and security operations themselves around AI.
To that end, the company will invest a total of 100 billion won in AI over the next three years. It will focus on expanding infrastructure including AI computing, data and platforms, and on strengthening its AI talent pool and research and development capabilities.
AhnLab will also restructure its business around SaaS. The plan is to strengthen its revenue base by moving to a subscription model that allows customers to flexibly expand the functions and scope of protection they need according to their security environment and operational demand, with continuous use and renewal.
The company is also stepping up its overseas business. Building on the security data and operational experience accumulated in South Korea, it plans to raise the share of overseas revenue from about 10% this year to more than 30% by 2035. AhnLab currently has subsidiaries in Japan and China and a joint venture in Saudi Arabia. The company plans to build additional bases in other Asian countries and to establish a "cyber defense center" in the Middle East. It is also reviewing strategic mergers and acquisitions, including of overseas companies, to expand its global business.
"At a time when AI is changing the rules of the game in cybersecurity and the competitive order of the security industry, 'AhnLab AI Plus' is AhnLab's next chapter," Kang said. "We will grow into the AI-native security platform company that customers think of first when they face security problems in the AI era."
