December 17, 2023
Kannan Subbiah
FCA | CISA | CGEIT | CCISO | GRC Consulting | Independent Director | Enterprise & Solution Architecture | Former Sr. VP & CTO of MF Utilities | BU Soft Tech | itTrident
CISOs now need to understand how to communicate with stakeholders and the boards around an incident. The only way to do this is to collaborate not only with chief financial officers (CFOs) to understand what stakeholders want to hear, but also with the legal department to set clear standards with the board on what they define as material. Working together allows the CISO to break down these silos, ensuring close collaboration toward business goals without adding unnecessary cybersecurity risk. If done right, with the appropriate transparency, any additional measures that are needed to combat a new or emerging risk or regulation should be easier to accept. ... CISOs also have to be good storytellers, using data to craft a narrative around how the business is mitigating growing risk. This includes taking a key performance indicator (KPI) — again using language and metrics that the board and other business stakeholders understand — and showcasing whether existing efforts are falling short and, if so, presenting a strategy to improve results.?
Unlike traditional methods, AI brings unimagined intelligence to the test case creation process, complementing everything from functional to performance testing services. The process involves active use of Machine learning algorithms to analyze patterns and identify critical scenarios. Besides, Natural Language Processing (NLP) enables AI to comprehend and interpret complex requirements, streamlining the translation of specifications into effective test cases. Additionally, predictive modelling anticipates potential system behaviors, contributing to more comprehensive test coverage. Overall, the amalgamation of advanced technologies empowers AI to autonomously generate test cases, significantly reducing manual efforts and enhancing the precision of test scenarios. As a result, AI not only accelerates the testing lifecycle but also elevates the overall quality and reliability of software applications. By harnessing the capabilities of artificial intelligence, QA service providers and test teams could yield a transformative approach to redefining the traditional test case generation practices.
The report singled out autonomous agents as a specific application of generative AI that warrants close oversight in a national security context. Autonomous agents build on LLMs by interacting with their environment and taking actions with little human intervention. The technology has the potential to accelerate national security analysis such as by rapidly processing vast amounts of open-source data, providing preliminary risk assessments and generating hypotheses for human analysts to pursue, the report said. But critics told report authors that the technology falls short of human-level reasoning and can't reproduce the innate understanding of risk that humans use to avoid failure. Among the mitigations the report suggested are recording actions and decision taken by autonomous agents. "The agent architecture must not obscure or undermine any potential aspects of explainability originating from the LLM." It also suggests attaching warnings to "every stage" of generative AI output and documenting what an agent-based system would do in a worst-case scenario.
The landscape of innovation is fertile ground for emerging technologies, which act as enablers and accelerators in the product development lifecycle. The plethora of tools available today — from sophisticated design software to robust development environments — has dramatically reshaped the process of innovation. Technologies such as cloud computing platforms, low-code development environments, and powerful coding frameworks empower organizations to bring ideas to life with unprecedented speed and efficiency. In the spectrum of tooling options, the decision between low-code platforms and traditional coding environments presents a strategic choice for teams. Low-code platforms can significantly reduce the complexity and time involved in creating applications, democratizing the development process and allowing a broader range of professionals to contribute to innovation. This accessibility can accelerate the prototyping phase, enabling rapid iteration and user feedback integration. Conversely, traditional coding remains indispensable for building highly customized and sophisticated systems.?
Technology moves faster than regulation, and banks and regulators must be able to collaborate more quickly and innovate for the technology to succeed, thrive, and benefit real people, says Anthony Moro, CEO of Provenance Blockchain Foundation, which is responsible for the Provenance Blockchain, a Layer 1 blockchain purpose-built for financial services. “2024 will be a period in which regulators gain more familiarity with innovations being developed on-chain and increase participation in experiments and discussion,” he says. In addition, private, permissioned environments are also poised to help streamline banks’ internal operations, including cross-border payments and settlements, according to Moro. They offer a potential solution for banks and financial institutions to participate in the evolving digital economy while adhering to regulatory requirements and maintaining a level of control over their own products and processes. “Banks and even regulators can use permissioned blockchain zones as ‘sandboxes’ to test out new financial products and services in a controlled and safe environment, which ultimately minimizes risks and stays within the confines of existing regulations,” Moro says.
Unlike traditional brainstorming sessions, brainwriting levels the playing field and ensures that all team members, regardless of their inclination towards extroversion or introversion get an equal opportunity to contribute. The process of writing ideas not only allows thoughtful consideration but also prevents the overshadowing of quieter voices. ... Written communication drastically minimises the fear of judgment as compared to voicing it in front of the dominant ideas. This helps in fostering an environment where individuals feel comfortable sharing unconventional or "wild" ideas. This can lead to breakthrough innovations that may have been overlooked in a traditional brainstorming setting. ... Brainwriting allows individuals to think more deeply about their ideas before sharing them with the group. This deliberate reflection can result in not only more refined and fully developed concepts but also more confidence in the idea ultimately improving the overall quality of the generated ideas. ... Unlike the sequential nature of verbal brainstorming, multiple ideas can be generated simultaneously by different team members in the process of brainwriting.