December 12 Is AI the Holy Grail of Cybersecurity? Or cybercrime?
Black hats and white hats armed with artificial intelligence in the battle of the century
– Northport, New York – December 11, 2023
Cybersecurity companies spoke to Mark McLaughlinchairman of the board of directors of Qualcomm and former president and CEO of Palo Alto Networksto assess how AI is weaponized by black hats and used by white hats.
“All new technologies have the advantage and disadvantage of being used by cybercriminals. Generally, they will use them faster than the good guys because they don’t have the same constraints. McLaughlin continued: “This is the case with software, the cloud, and it will be the case with quantum computing and AI. »
McLaughlin also had a positive outlook, saying that AI queries are very expensive, meaning good actors can use this technology more effectively than their adversaries. Its biggest worry, however, is the possibility of launching sophisticated phishing attacks that don’t mimic what we’ve seen in the past.
“This is going to require a new level of awareness that we need to confront very quickly,” McLaughlin warned.
Cybercrime Radio: AI, the good guys against the bad guys
Mark McLaughlin, former chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks
Does AI endanger jobs?
With a global shortage of cybersecurity jobsand 85 percent of the cybersecurity workforce, according to Devo searchconsidering leaving their current roles due to burnout, how can organizations anticipate emerging threats while ensuring the well-being of their security teams?
Steve Morganthe editor-in-chief of Cybercrime Magazine, highlighted one of the most important issues addressed in this report.
“83% of security professionals say they or someone in their department made mistakes due to burnout that led to a security breach,” Morgan said when I interviewed him on Cybercrime radio about Devo research. “So whether you stay or go, it really affects people. I don’t know if the board, CEOs and CFOs are aware of the magnitude of the problem. I think right now we’re in this awareness mode, making people more aware of what’s going on.
If the increase in AI-generated cyberattacks adds to widespread cybersecurity industry burnout, will the other side of the equation result in employees being replaced by AI?
Goldman Sachs Reports that generative AI could expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation.
“The question on everyone’s mind is: Can I be replaced by a robot, artificial intelligence or someone in another country? Frank ZinghiniCEO of Applied Visions, told Cybercrime Magazine discussing how programmers might be affected. “There will always be a need to involve people – humans – in this process. »
Zinghini reminds us that “we must consider (AI) as another tool.” This technological revolution is similar to many other advances made in the 70 years of software development history “and if used right it can really help you and if used wrong it can cause you a lot of problems.”
Can AI help secure your business?
Penetration testing remains an essential part of any company’s security routine, which is why we reached out Seghal Seemantfounder and CEO of BreachLockto hear his thoughts on how AI can contribute to this aspect of an organization’s security strategy.
“When it comes to cybersecurity, until the AI security magic bullet comes along – organizations can integrate AI into their security workflows,” Seghal said, “but they will need to continue to rigorously test the performance of their AI tools, while manually identifying and quickly remediating vulnerabilities. »
Seghal echoes concerns about how AI can accelerate bad actors, but remains positive, hailing “AI as a step to evolve human society using the power of computer programming.”
When it comes to penetration testing, BreachLock has “used AI since we started in 2018” to free its ethical hackers from mundane tasks, so they have more time to “perform in-depth vulnerability discovery, Correlative analysis and manual AI validation and automated results.
What does 2024 have in store for CISOs?
CISOs are inundated with problems on both sides of the AI coin, as it opens up new possibilities for security teams, but also contributes to the damage caused by global cybercrime and employee burnout.
Steve Wozniakco-founder of Apple, expresses concerns about the weaponization of AI through online scams and misinformation, while Elon MuskCEO of You’re here, EspaceX and CTO and Executive Chairman of Xconsiders AI “the most disruptive force in history”.
Big tech players like Microsoft And Google invest billions in AI. THE Brookings Institutionan American think tank, warns against The negative impact of AI on elections.
Perhaps it’s best to think of AI as a technological tool. ‘enemyblending the benefits of new innovations with the natural repercussions of their deployment by adversaries.
Pope Francis highlights the potential of robotics and AI, saying they “can make a better world possible if combined with the common good.” So, is it possible that AI is the holy grail of cybersecurity? Or, dare we say, cybercrime?
Tell us what you think.
– Paul John Spaulding is GM Production at Cybercrime Magazine.