AI has become the ultimate double agent, arming both cyber defenders and attackers with unprecedented power in the race to outsmart each other. Are you aware of these new threats?
Andrew delivered the closing keynote at the Kocho Microsoft Technology Summit in London.
In front of a super-engaged audience of cybersecurity professionals, he highlighted how AI is reshaping cybersecurity’s battlefield.
Here’s a breakdown of the most critical threats, and how professionals and criminals are leveraging AI tools:
🛡️ Deepfakes & Synthetic Media
Threat: AI-generated voice/video clones (like the $25M Arup CFO scam) now bypass biometric checks and manipulate victims.
Cybercriminals: Use tools like ElevenLabs to clone voices in 5 minutes for social engineering.
Defenders: Deploy AI-powered deepfake detection and enforce “family passwords” for verification.
🧠 Quantum Computing (Q-Day)
Threat: Quantum computers could crack current encryption, exposing decades of sensitive data in unde 5 years.
Cybercriminals: Harvest encrypted data now to decrypt post-Q-Day.
Defenders: Invest in quantum-safe encryption and audit systems for vulnerabilities.
🤖 AI-Optimized Phishing & Malware
Threat: Generative AI crafts hyper-personalized phishing emails and malware.
Cybercriminals: Use WormGPT to bypass safeguards and automate attacks.
Defenders: Deploy AI-driven email filtering and Agentic AI to defend against automated threats
🔑 Takeaways for Leaders:
Adopt agentic AI to automate threat response and reduce Security Operations Centre (SOC) workloads.
Run AI hackathons to bridge “born digital” and “going digital” teams.
Prioritise critical thinking: AI excels at speed, but humans excel at ethics.
In the three-minute summary above, you can see the major topics Andrew covered.
If you’d like to view the entire talk, please get in touch.
He also signied copies of his latest book, Digitally Curious for delegates.
More information on the event can be found here.