NetApp’s Seth Cutler: Agencies Need to Understand AI Trends to Prepare for Evolving Security Threats

Seth Cutler, chief information security officer of data storage and management company NetApp, has said that agencies should continuously update and retrain artificial intelligence models to detect, prevent and respond to cyber threats.

Cutler wrote in a GCN opinion piece published Friday government information technology professionals must look into the defensive and offensive elements of a data strategy to prepare for evolving security risks associated with the technology.

He noted AI and machine learning models intended for vulnerability management, authentication, monitoring, augmenting personnel and phishing would help organizations prevent sophisticated attacks.

AI-enabled cybersecurity procedures entail the use of trained algorithms to filter data and prioritize suspicious behavioral changes and attacks before verifying the information to execute response, Cutler said.

However, there are also tactics like adversarial ML that enable attackers to train AI tools through manipulated models, he noted.

According to Cutler, agencies must start educating their information technology teams on evolving attacks as AI and ML implementation is still in the initial stages.

“The amount of data being collected and synthesized is massive and will continue to grow exponentially,” he said. “We must leverage all the tools in the AI tool chest to make sense of this data for the good.”