Weaponizing IT - NETSCOUT comments​​

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UN Secretary-General António Guterres raised alarms at a recent United Nations Conference about the growing risk of weaponizing digital technologies saying that activities by both state and non-state actors in cyberspace are on the rise, with sophisticated tools, particularly those driven by artificial intelligence (AI), being used to carry out cyberattacks.  We talk to Darren Anstee, Chief Technology Officer for Security, NETSCOUT about the impact of cybercrime globally, and ask how organizations can protect themselves?

“The UN’s concerns about the growth of weaponized digital technologies, such as AI, align with what we have observed.  The rise in use of AI is allowing bad actors to more easily generate more customized attacks – allowing them to scale their operations and increase their odds of success.  Social engineering, where generative AI can be used to create realistic-looking emails and documents which are very difficult to distinguish from the genuine article, is one example of this.  We expect the use of AI to continue to grow as tools become both more generally available and easier to use.”

“Given the above, organizations must ensure they have both broad and deep visibility into north-south and east-west traffic within their infrastructures.  Visibility enables organizations to properly identify and assess threats against their business assets and gives them the power to more quickly investigate and remediate any problems.”