August 03, 2023

When your teammate is a machine: 8 questions CISOs should be asking about AI

There are many potential benefits that can flow from incorporating AI into security technology, according to Rebecca Herold, an IEEE member and founder of The Privacy Professor consultancy: streamlining work to shorten finish times for projects, the ability to make quick decisions, to find problems more expeditiously. But, she adds, there are a lot of half-baked instances being employed and buyers "end up diving into the deep end of the AI pool without doing one iota of scrutiny about whether or not the AI they view as the HAL 9000 savior of their business even works as promised."?She also warns that when "flawed AI results go very wrong, causing privacy breaches, bias, security incidents, and noncompliance fines, those using the AI suddenly realize that this AI was more like the dark side of HAL 9000 than they had even considered as being a possibility."?To avoid having your AI teammate tell you, "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that," when you are asking for results that are accurate, non-biased, privacy-protective, and in compliance with data protection requirements, Herold advises that every CISO ask eight questions

Generative AI needs humans in the loop for widespread adoption

Generative AI by itself has many positives, but it is currently a work in progress and it will need to work with humans for it to transform the world - which it is almost certain to do. This blending of man and machine is best described as “AI with humans in the loop” and it is already being widely adopted by businesses who want to cut operating costs and improve customer services, but also realise that humans will be crucial if these objectives are to be achieved. One of the sectors embracing this new normal is in financial journalism. Reuters managing director Sue Brooks announced that AI will be used to cover news stories and will create a “golden age” of news. Crucially, she also said it was vital there “was always a human in the loop to ensure total accuracy”. Reuters content now has automated time-coded transcripts and translation of many languages into English, part of the Reuters Connect service. Brooks went on to say that this meld would “free up brain power to be creative and put all these tools in your toolbox to create magical experiences for readers”.

AI chip adds artificial neurons to resistive RAM for use in wearables, drones

According to Weier Wan, a graduate researcher at Stanford University and one of the authors of the paper, published in Nature yesterday, NeuRRAM has been developed as an AI chip that greatly improves energy efficiency of AI inference, thereby allowing complex AI functions to be realized directly within battery-powered edge devices, such as smart wearables, drones, and industrial IoT sensors. "In today's AI chips, data processing and data storage happen in separate places – computing unit and memory unit. The frequent data movement between these units consumes the most energy and becomes the bottleneck for realizing low-power AI processors for edge devices," he said. To address this, the NeuRRAM chip implements a "compute-in-memory" model, where processing happens directly within memory. It also makes use of resistive RAM (RRAM), a memory type that is as fast as static RAM but is non-volatile, allowing it to store AI model weights.?

The CISO role has changed, and CISOs need to change with it

Perhaps the best way to improve security—and make the CISO’s job a little easier—is not reliant on technology. A change in culture is the best way to truly create an organization where security is top of mind. CISOs, part of upper management, but also part of the security team, are uniquely positioned to lead this change – both with other leaders and those they lead. A security-first culture requires embedding security in everything a business does. Developers should be enabled to create secure code that is free from vulnerabilities and resistant to attacks as soon as it is written, as opposed to being a consideration much later in the SDLC. Designated security champions from the developer ranks should lead this charge, acting as both coach and cheerleader. This approach means that security is not being mandated from above, but part of the team’s DNA and backed up by management. This cannot be an overnight change, and may be met with resistance. But the threat landscape is too complex, too advanced and too ubiquitous for any one person or even a small team to handle alone.

Hosting Provider Accused of Facilitating Nation-State Hacks

The allegations, whether true or not, are a reminder that cybercrime doesn't operate in a vacuum. Rather, there's a burgeoning service and support ecosystem. Services include initial access brokers who provide on-demand access to victims, botnet owners who facilitate malware-laden phishing attacks, and repacking services that make malware tougher to spot. They also include ransomware-as-a-service operators who lease their code to business partners, the affiliates who use it to infect victims, and cryptocurrency money laundering services that help criminals - operating online or off - convert their ill-gotten gains into cash. Online attackers require infrastructure for launching their attacks. Some make use of bulletproof service providers, which provide VPS and other types of hosting services in return for a promise, typically for a relatively high fee, that customers can do whatever they like. Halcyon's report alleges that Cloudzy functionally operates in a similar manner, due to a lack of proper oversight, including allowing cryptocurrency-using customers to be able to remain anonymous.

The tug-of-war between optimization and innovation in the CIO’s office

The downside of prioritizing optimization is the risk of overlooking opportunities for innovation that could have long-term impacts on the organization’s growth and relevance. Think game-changing new systems, such as AI, that increase supply chain efficiency, or automating steps in manufacturing that speeds up productivity and reduces costs at the same time. Usually, the value of a business is directly defined by the innovations that can drive it. Think about the services we use now, from food delivery to home sharing, with the draw being better customer experiences through innovation. Emphasizing innovation enables companies to stay ahead of the curve, attracting customers with cutting-edge products and services. ... These mistakes will kill a company. Taking resources away from innovation and spending them on making things work as they should removes business value. I think we’re going to see a great many businesses spend so much money to fix past mistakes that they’ll end up throwing in the towel.?

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