The dual role of AI in Cybersecurity

Artificial Intelligence, and more specifically Generative AI, has taken world by storm in the last few years. Every problem seems to now have an AI-based solution. When it comes to Cybersecurity, AI is used both as a tool and a target. While machine learning has been leveraged by defenders to detect and prevent intrusions for many years, GenAI is now also used by attackers to improve and accelerate attacks, most notably social engineering. However, the increasing use of AI can also be targeted by criminals who can exploit poorly configured systems to gain illegitimate access and leak sensitive data. In the development world, "vibe coding" now allows people with very little coding knowledge to develop entire new applications, which brings an enormous smile to a hacker's face. In this presentation, we will look at some use cases of how AI can be used or targeted to better understand the associated threats and discuss the possible solutions.

Speakers

Alain Mowat

Alain Mowat is the Chief Technology Officer at Orange Cyberdefense Switzerland. He joined the company (then called SCRT) in 2009 as a penetration tester and subsequently led the offensive security team in the same company for many years until turning towards Research & Development and finally taking on the role of CTO. While still performing various engagements throughout the year, Alain is also dedicated to exploring new approaches to be used to better secure client infrastructures. Aside from these activities, Alain was an active member in the 0daysober CTF team that finished 3rd at DEFCON CTF in 2015 and has responsibly disclosed vulnerabilities in multiple products such as Citrix NetScaler, SonicWall, Barracuda, Twitter and McAfee. Alain is also responsible for giving various security-related trainings at Orange Cyberdefense Switzerland and has presented at several conferences, such as Insomni'hack, where he is also one of the organisers, CyberSecurity Alliance, SIGS, Area41, SwissCyberStorm and SecurityFest.