Generative artificial intelligence, while being increasingly exploited by cyber criminals to fuel their attacks, is also empowering defenders with faster and smarter responses to online threats, according to Heather Adkins, global VP of engineering at Google Security.

Adkins, who has spent more than 20 years at Google, said, generative AI will give “defenders” a “leg up” over the threat actors.”

“We will be able to leverage Gen AI to protect infrastructure in new ways that we’ve never thought of before and also at a speed that we’ve never been able to achieve before,” she said, quoted by TNN.

She said that the same technology being used to plan sophisticated cyberattacks can also help strengthen defence systems.

Talking about cyberattacks in India, the Google security VP pointed out that the government is “very engaged” and has been ahead of many other nations in tackling these threats.

“It’s a hot topic. They’ve done a very good job in getting involved quickly and partnering with companies. The workforce here and education levels in India are pretty high. There are parts of the world I go where they’re just now starting to think about cyber security and they’re much further behind India.”

Google Security now plans to set up an engineering centre in India.

She further warned of the growing threat posed by state-sponsored cyberattacks, particularly as geopolitical tensions continue to rise, putting the world at risk. “It’s a question of who has more time. And, if you think about a well-funded nation state, may be they’ll create a project, put 100 people on it, and they just work on that project throughout the day… So, they often know more because they have more time, not because they’re smarter. I would say they’re more likely to be successful.”

Adkins highlighted the need to educate users alongside building tools, stating that digital instincts must be developed to spot malicious content online. “Unlike the physical world where you have instincts and senses to identify something dangerous, the online world does not have a parallel. We have to build that,” she said.

Despite the rising tempo and complexity of attacks, Adkins believed that the cybersecurity landscape is in a better place today. “There’s no doubt that we’re seeing an increase in the tempo and sophistication of attacks. But today, more than ever before, enterprises have better tools.”

Cybersecurity looked “primitive” 23 years ago, while now, most solutions have security built into them, she added.

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