In June of last year, Jason Lau, the chief information security officer of Crypto.com, shared valuable insights on leveraging the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance cybersecurity through an article published on the renowned security website ooda.com.

The author believes that, in cybersecurity, it is necessary to establish a strategic advantage over criminals by proactively identifying and neutralising threats before they cause damage. In this regard, he also believes that continuous learning from past incidents can improve future responses, using AI-driven and guided tools to identify, understand and neutralise threats. Therefore, he proposes the following steps:

• Using an automated AI-driven threat intelligence platform that recognises external signatures, tactics, techniques and procedures in real time. This platform works to be significantly faster at identifying and neutralising phishing, malware and other endpoint threats by evolving and learning from attack methods.

• Implementing continuous automated alerting and monitoring of sensitive assets, from inventory used across the enterprise to scanning personally identifiable information to detect specific instances of plain text exposure and alerts to computers.

• Performing continuous AI-based code reviews, searching for code exceptions, cross-site scripting language errors, code injection, buffer overflows and more, and automatically replacing it with safe code while maintaining the functional integrity of the code.

• Engaging AI to detect malicious AI itself: indirect rapid injection attacks, which highlight emerging threats where adversaries attempt to infiltrate large language models, through AI used to detect malicious software and more.

As we move into an increasingly interconnected future, AI is undoubtedly a powerful ally, a cutting-edge piece of the puzzle, helping to quickly predict, prepare for and prevent impending cyberthreats.

However, it is also becoming very clear that owning such a powerful tool is not enough. Today’s cybersecurity leaders are called upon to do more than react and respond. They have to take a proactive stance, constantly planning, predicting and positioning their defences, making the necessary moves to stay one step ahead of the relentless wave of cyber adversaries.

However, by moving too fast, without a thoughtful and reflective approach, we risk treading on the fragile ground of ethics. How AI is used in cybersecurity is as important as why and where we choose to deploy it. As leaders, it is imperative to sew the seed of ethical considerations in our AI strategies, establishing a strong moral compass to guide us through the maze of technological possibilities.

In this cybersecurity chess game, tomorrow’s challenges are already on our doorstep. Having a cybersecurity plan is no longer an option, but a requirement for survival. But a critical aspect to consider is how AI can help empower security teams to become more agile and to adapt to new and emerging cyberthreats.

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