Cybersecurity adapts to AI-driven threats – News

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the cybersecurity landscape, bringing both promise and peril.

Technology is advancing and diffusing at a rapid pace, meaning that threat actors have access to the same sophisticated toolset as defenders. The numbers show it too, with a substantial increase in both common vulnerabilities and zero-day exploits within the past year, according to Damon McDougald (pictured, right), global cyber protection lead at Accenture PLC.

With automation and AI capabilities forming a new breed of cyber threats, how can companies stay ahead, insulate themselves and recover with minimal damage?

“I’m vibing — I’m having a great time with all this technology,” McDougald said. “However, if I’m using it for good, the bad guys use it for bad. We’ve seen some trends out in the industry. We’ve seen just in this past year, a 16% increase in CVEs, and then we’ve seen a 32% increase in the zero-day exploits to those CVEs. When they’re coming out, they’re getting exploited right away. And the only way that’s happening is through AI.”

McDougald and Alex Valenzuela (left), vice president of the Americas partners and alliances at Okta Inc., spoke with theCUBE’s Rebecca Knight and Jackie McGuire at Okta’s Oktane event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, News Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how Okta’s identity platform, combined with Accenture’s expertise, helps organizations migrate from legacy systems, onboard thousands of applications quickly and establish a secure foundation for AI-driven operations. (* Disclosure below.)

Identity becomes the key attack vector in cybersecurity’s AI age

From agents to bots and machine-to-machine processes, AI’s proliferation has led to a parallel rise in non-human identities. As such, identities are now the prime cybersecurity battlefield, according to Valenzuela.

“When you think about AI coming into that mix and folks historically securing their businesses of human identities, the big question is how do you secure the non-human identities?” he said. “How do you govern them? How do you provide them access to the right applications at the right time? That’s a big question today.”

Okta and Accenture emphasize that tackling these challenges requires deep collaboration. Okta provides the identity technology foundation, while Accenture helps clients build roadmaps, integrate systems, and manage transformation at scale.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of News’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Okta’s Oktane event:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Okta’s Oktane event. Neither Okta Inc., the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or News.)

Photo: News