During last year’s RSA Conference, there was some talk around how artificial intelligence might influence cybersecurity, with attackers potentially using the technology to write better phishing emails, for instance. At this week’s event, there are more conversations about the exposure that AI brings and about how to secure AI.

AI is a fascinating technology, but like many other technologies, it has two sides, according to Jay Chaudhry (pictured), founder and chief executive officer of Zscaler Inc. While AI can help with business productivity, it can also be very dangerous.

“Think of a simple example. You’re going to ask ChatGPT and say, ‘Tell me all the VPN systems this company has and what vulnerabilities do they have,’” Chaudhry said. “It would’ve taken them days to collect this information. Now it’s available in a matter of seconds. So, identifying your attack surface, the starting point of attack becomes easy.”

Jay Chaudhry discusses the rise in phishing attacks and the need for securing AI technologies.

Chaudhry joined Dave Vellante, chief analyst at theCUBE Research, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, at the RSA Conference. They discussed the rise in phishing attacks and the need for securing AI technologies. (* Disclosure below.) 

Threat of attack means companies have to fight AI with AI

Recently, Zscaler released a report stating that the company blocked about 2 billion phishing attempts last year, finding that there has been 60% increase in phishing attacks year-over-year. On Monday, the company also announced that it had joined forces with Google LLC on a joint zero-trust architecture with Chrome Enterprise.

“There have been so many conversations with customers. Obviously, you’ll expect AI being part of the conversation always these days, but fear of getting breached and the business stopping because of ransomware is the number one concern on every CISO’s mind,” Chaudhry said.

With the threat of attack high, it’s important to fight AI with AI. That’s taking place now, he added.

“We are leveraging AI to actually analyze billions and billions of logs to figure out in this needle in the haystack … if two users in this company got compromised and the bad guys are trying to move to step two and three and four,” he said.

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

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

Photo: SiliconANGLE