How AI is Revolutionizing Cybersecurity

In “Securing the Future: How AI is Revolutionizing Cybersecurity,” a recent roundtable discussion held in partnership with Accenture, Techonomy brought together prominent security experts to explore the transformative potential of AI in the cybersecurity landscape. Global Lead at Accenture Security Paolo Dal Cin, Google Cloud GM and VP of Cloud Security Sunil Potti, and Lendlease CISO Michael Frazee discussed how businesses can leverage the generative AI revolution to enhance security and drive positive outcomes.

While AI has long been deployed in the cybersecurity space, recent advances have made a note-worthy impact. Paolo Dal Cin, Global Lead at Accenture Security, said that an innovation race between attackers and defenders has reignited as technology falls into both hands and the threat landscape changes. “We need to think about how we can keep the pace retooling ourselves using a generative AI for defense goals, not just as a weapon. And then we need to also understand how the new threat actors are leveraging generative AI against us.”

This is where Accenture Security is focusing their attention and excelling. AI can significantly enhance cybersecurity measures by detecting and mitigating emerging cyber threats with both speed and scale. Dal Cin emphasized the powerful potential of autonomous vulnerability detection using generative AI. AI systems can efficiently scan and identify vulnerabilities in code, expediting the process of patching potential software weaknesses.

Sunil Potti, VP of Cloud Security at Google Cloud, shared insights into how Google utilizes generative AI in a bold and responsible way to help organizations proactively enhance their security posture and equip defenders to stay ahead of bad actors.

Michael Frazee, the CISO of Lendlease, is tasked with securing his company against all cyber threats, including increasingly creative and personalized ones.  In any organization, people are the most vulnerable when faced with cyber threats. While it’s important to prepare individual employees against potential cyber threats, “we also need to leverage Gen AI in our email security systems” for a more failsafe approach.

The discussion delved into a handful of related topics. Panelists agreed that despite AI’s enhancements to speed and scale, human intelligence remains crucial in threat detection and mitigation, providing contextual understanding and intuition that AI might lack. Business leaders were also advised on the key components of crafting a responsible AI strategy: prioritizing data privacy and security, building and implementing ethical frameworks, and mitigating biases. By understanding the risks and opportunities associated with generative AI, organizations can build robust cybersecurity strategies and secure their digital and physical assets effectively.

Watch the Full Session Below: