Staying ahead of the curve in the fast-paced world of cybersecurity is not just a necessity; it’s a relentless pursuit.

This week’s mWISE Conference provided a platform for industry experts to unravel the intricate threads of this ever-evolving domain. During the event, theCUBE analysts gained valuable insights into the changing dynamics of cybersecurity and the role of artificial intelligence in defending against cyber threats.

“AI has actually been around for quite a while, so the development of it has come a long way,” said Sandra Joyce (pictured), vice president of Mandiant Intelligence, Google Cloud, at Google LLC. “It has the potential to really allow a cybersecurity worker to do so much more than they used to be able to do.”

Joyce spoke with theCUBE industry analysts John Furrier and Rebecca Knight at the mWISE Conference, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the changing face of cybersecurity in a world where cyber threats have become the new norm. (* Disclosure below.)

China’s cyber evolution

One of the main topics of the conference was China and how it has transitioned from having tier-two or tier-three capabilities in the cyber domain to achieving a cyber superpower status in just two years, according to Joyce. This transformation is characterized by a shift from noisy spear-phishing emails to highly sophisticated operations that are difficult to track and mitigate.

“They’ve really graduated into what I would consider a cyber superpower status at this stage,” she said. “I think that one axiom we always live by, or one sort of rule is, geopolitics begets cyber activity. And what we’re seeing is the rising tensions between the U.S. and China, and that’s really changing the game in cyberspace.”

China’s cyber capabilities have grown to include a wide range of tactics and strategies. They target edge infrastructure; appliances connected to the internet and actively seek to evade security measures, such as endpoint detection and response systems.

Additionally, China has been aggressively exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities, with a significant increase in its exploitation rate, posing a substantial challenge for defenders, Joyce said.

“They’re issuing and exploiting zero days at a rate that already surpasses … exploited zero-days in the wild,” she added.

Public-private partnerships in cybersecurity

A key point in the conversation was the significance of public-private partnerships in cybersecurity. It is important for intelligence agencies and the private sector to collaborate to effectively combat cyber threats while safeguarding civil liberties, according to Joyce.

With a collective defense approach and continuous learning, individuals, businesses, organizations and governments can work together to mitigate cyber risks and protect critical infrastructure in an increasingly digitized world.

“If the people trying to protect us need insights into what threat actors are doing in the domestic space, in the private sector, they have to go ask the private sector,” she added. “That is why these public-private partnerships are so important, because we need to be able to cover all of that ground.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the mWISE Conference:

(* Disclosure: Google Cloud sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Google Cloud nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE