AWS CISO: Generative AI is just a tool, ‘not a magic wand’

Chris Betz is neither fearful nor overly optimistic about the role of generative AI in cybersecurity. Instead Betz, CISO at AWS, balances both ends of the spectrum — he treats it just as he does any other burgeoning technology. “For what it’s worth, I’m not sure that the sky is falling,” Betz told Cybersecurity Dive.

The security industry has not yet seen evidence that substantiates broad concerns about threat actors using generative AI to initiate cyberattacks more quickly, more often or with more damaging outcomes.

While researchers expect AI to amplify the impact for defenders and attackers, threat actors’ use of AI in their operations is limited, according to Crowdstrike’s annual global threat report. “Throughout 2023, generative AI was rarely observed supporting malicious computer network operations development and/or execution,” the firm said last month in the report.

It’s tough and too early to say if the advantages afforded by generative AI rest with defenders or attackers, according to Betz. Threat actors and security professionals are leveraging the technology in scenarios that play to their strengths. For defense, generative AI can resolve problems faster and more efficiently. Organizations can use AI to scan for hard-to-find vulnerabilities and determine steps for remediation.

“There’s a ton of information for security analysts to understand. There’s a ton of information for an application security engineer to understand. That ability to synthesize, to help answer questions, to help lead and find the right data and bring it together in a usable way is incredibly powerful for defenders,” Betz said. “That’s perhaps the place where attackers are not quite in the same place. They don’t have that rich data about the people that they’re attacking. And so this could be a case where there’s an advantage to the defender.”

Cybersecurity Dive​ 03/05/2024