Cybersecurity in the AI Age: Luttwak Urges ‘Security from Day One

Amy Luttwak, Chief Technologist at cybersecurity company Wiz, explained that the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence is changing the nature of cyberattacks. She said, "Cybersecurity is a mental game. New technologies create new opportunities for attackers."

As businesses integrate AI into their systems, the attack surface widens too. AI lets developers code more quickly, but with shortcuts and security vulnerabilities to boot. Wiz testing discovered that security for authentication, or user identity, in AI-coded applications is not strong, and this provides room for attackers.

Attackers are now using web coding, prompt-based techniques, and AI agents. Luttwak said, "Attackers command AI tools to send all data and delete the machine or file." The threat of supply chain attacks has also increased. For example, AI chatbot startup Drift was attacked, exposing Salesforce data for several companies. Attackers obtained tokens and used the chatbot to access the data.

Wiz has seen rapid adoption of its AI products and security measures. Wiz Code identifies and resolves security issues during software development, and Wiz Defend protects by detecting active threats in cloud environments. Luttwak said that companies should focus on security and compliance from the beginning. "It should be Seeso from day one, even if you have just five employees," he said.

AI startups must consider data security, architecture, access control, and enterprise security. Luttwak warned that “there are new attacks in every area, which means we have to rethink every part of security.” Cybersecurity in the AI ​​age is more challenging than ever, but with the right strategy and preparation, it can be managed.