The Double-edged Sword of AI

Welcome to another edition of the Cybervizer Newsletter.

We are sitting at the intersection of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence in the enterprise and there is much to know and do. Our goal is not just to keep you updated with the latest AI, cybersecurity and other crucial tech trends and breakthroughs that may matter to you, but also to feed your curiosity.

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In this edition:

• Did You Know - AI for Good and Bad

• Article Spotlight: The Double-edged Sword of AI: Navigating Evolving Cybersecurity Threats

• Artificial Intelligence news & Bytes

• Cybersecurity News & Bytes

• Power Prompt

• Social Media Image

Did You Know - AI for Good and Bad

• Did you know AI enables more sophisticated attack methods, challenging traditional defenses. However, it also empowers strong defenses when used ethically.

• Did you know it is important to balance AI’s benefits and risks and it requires rather robust ethical considerations.

• Did you know recognizing AI’s dual nature, means you navigate evolving threats by leveraging its strengths while mitigating vulnerabilities.

• Did you know all businesses face a long-term AI arms race against cybercriminals. Defending against AI-powered threats requires constant vigilance and adaptation.

Article Spotlight: The Double-edged Sword of AI: Navigating Evolving Cybersecurity Threats

The rise of AI causing increasing cyber threats

Today, a cyberattack is launched roughly every 39 seconds. From phishing attacks to ransomware, cybercrime comes in many shapes and sizes, but no matter what the format of the attack, the results are devastating.

Cybercrime is on track to cost us $9.5 trillion in 2024. And with AI now being exploited by bad actors to commit more sophisticated attacks on a larger scale, that number will only increase.

So what does this evolving threat landscape look like from the trenches? And what are businesses doing to defend their most valuable digital assets against the fast-developing danger of AI-powered cybercrime?

RiverSafe’s recent report surveys CISOs from across the UK about their experiences in today’s cyber environment—and what challenges they’re facing as they fight back against cybercriminals in what’s shaping up to be a long-term AI arms race. Here are some of the key takeaways to help you prepare for a growing torrent of cyber threats

Be aware of how AI is changing the threat landscape

One in five CISOs cite AI as the biggest cyber threat, as AI technology becomes both more available and more advanced.

AI tools are equipping cybercriminals with new abilities, and supercharging their most effective methods to help them levy attacks faster and on a larger scale. According to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), AI is already being widely used in malicious cyber activity and “will almost certainly increase the volume and impact of cyberattacks, including ransomware, in the near term.”

One of the simplest, and most devastating, ways that AI is helping cybercriminals is by facilitating the modification of common attacks to make them more difficult for antivirus software, spam filters, and other cybersecurity measures to detect them.

Take malware for example: a potentially crippling technique that does more damage the longer it manages to go undetected. With AI, hackers can morph malware infections to enable them to hide from antivirus software. Once an AI-assisted piece of malware is clocked by a system’s defenses, AI can quickly generate new variants that the system will not know how to identify, allowing the malware to continue to lurk within your environment and steal sensitive data, spread to other devices, and carry out further attacks unnoticed.

And that’s just one use case. Cybercriminals are also using AI to bypass firewalls by generating what appears to be legitimate traffic, generating more effective and convincing social engineering content like phishing emails, and creating deepfakes to trick unknowing victims into handing over sensitive information.

Read more of the article on TechRadar.

Artificial intelligence News & Bytes 🧠

Cybersecurity News & Bytes 🛡️

AI Power Prompt

Create a Comprehensive Security Policies for a Given Company: The following prompt can aid in creating comprehensive set of security policies for a given company in a specific industry.

Act as a cybersecurity expert specializing in policy development and a copywriter. Given the following context, criteria, and instructions, write a deep and comprehensive set of Cybersecurity Policies for this [Company] in this [Industry]. These policies should be verified by you and factual, and in an eighth grade reading level, so they are easy to understand and follow.

## Context

The Company is in this Industry. The management wants to ensure that the company's cybersecurity policies are accessible and understandable to all employees, hence the requirement for an eighth-grade reading level.

## Approach

The security policies should cover a wide range of areas including but not limited to access control, data protection, incident response, software updates, and employee training. Emphasis should be placed on clarity and simplicity of language to ensure that all employees can easily comprehend the policies.

## Response Format

The security policies should be written in a clear and straightforward manner, avoiding technical jargon and complex sentence structures. Bullet points, infographics, and examples may be employed to enhance understanding.

## Instructions

- Research and include cybersecurity best practices relevant to the Company's Industry and operational environment.

- Ensure that the policies are actionable and provide clear guidelines for employees to follow.

- Utilize real-world examples and scenarios where applicable to illustrate the importance of adhering to the policies.

- Review the policies for accuracy and factual correctness before finalizing them.

- After drafting the policies, seek feedback from a focus group or representative sample of employees to ensure the content is comprehensible at an eighth-grade reading level.

Note: Any words in [Word] in brackets like that is a variable that you insert or add. Here is the format to add variable after the prompt: [Word] = Your answer for variable

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