What is AI’s current impact on cybersecurity?

In our inaugural episode, Michael “Siko” Sikorski, CTO and VP of Engineering and Threat Intelligence at Unit 42 answers that question and speaks to the profound influence of artificial intelligence in an interview with David Moulton, Director of thought leadership for Unit 42.

What’s Sikorski’s critical concern? The pervasive integration of AI, particularly ChatGPT and large language models (LLMs), into the cybersecurity landscape. Sikorski discusses where attackers benefit from AI and how it will supercharge social engineering attacks. The potential here is staggering, as AI can craft eerily convincing messages in the style of specific individuals, making it a potent tool for phishing attacks and virtually indistinguishable from genuine communication.

As Sikorski aptly puts it, “Lowering the bar for social engineering attacks means attackers are less likely to be caught due to language inconsistencies.” The result? An upsurge in phishing attacks. This shift necessitates heightened vigilance and proactive measures on the part of organizations.

The increasingly widespread use of artificial intelligence has another critical consideration: potential security exposures within enterprises. Companies must be acutely aware of ensuring employee compliance with both AI utilization and general security policies to ensure that private data or sensitive information is not inadvertently shared or leaked. Businesses must remind employees that these are not private or confidential when using chat AI tools.

Ultimately, Sikorsi offers this advice for businesses with AI concerns: Instead of looking at companies riding the AI wave, look at those who have been working with AI for a long time and have the background to demonstrate their success. Sikorski shares, “Palo Alto Networks stands out as a trailblazer in AI adoption, spanning early malware detection, malware family identification and more recent advancements in automating security operations centers (SOCs) to efficiently handle the deluge of alerts.”

Threat Vector provides insights that are both enlightening and cautionary. Still, these summaries only scratch the surface of the expert perspectives in the full podcast episodes. CISOs, C-level executives or anyone with a vested interest in safeguarding the digital world can benefit from subscribing to the Unit 42 Threat Vector podcast. Discover firsthand the invaluable knowledge, strategies and real-world stories cybersecurity experts share.

Threat Vector is your compass in the world of cybersecurity. Listen to all current segments on Unit 42 YouTube channel and Spotify.