Jared Shepard, President and CEO of Hypori

Original Broadcast Date November 17, 2024

Presented by Hypori & Carahsoft

The Rapidly Evolving Threat Landscape and the Role of AI in Cyber Defense

Jared Shepard, President and CEO of Hypori, highlights the increasingly complex threat landscape, where emerging threats from new actors and existing challenges from countries like China and Russia add to the cyber and intelligence community's burden. AI stands as both an opportunity and a risk: while it can aid in defensive measures, such as monitoring insider threats, it also enables adversaries to easily launch more sophisticated attacks, democratizing the capacity for cyber offense. Shepard warns that the "attack surface" has expanded, making data security and information control critical priorities, especially in the face of tactics like AI poisoning and influence campaigns. He stresses that industry and government must collaborate, particularly in safeguarding intellectual property, to maintain a technological edge against multifaceted and evolving cyber threats.

Key Takeaways:

1. AI enables both advanced threat actors and less skilled ones to launch effective attacks, increasing the volume and complexity of threats.
   
   
2. The proliferation of digital threats from diverse actors, combined with influence campaigns and AI misuse, requires a focused approach on reducing the attack surface and securing data.
   
   
3. Government and industry must work together to protect intellectual property, with initiatives like CMMC playing a key role in bolstering national security by addressing vulnerabilities within the defense industrial base.