Figure 1: Fortinet Security Operations Platform

A world where cybercriminals can launch large-scale, sophisticated attacks with the push of a button is becoming a reality with the advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI). This means Cybercriminals now have cutting-edge tools to launch complex attacks quickly. They continue to use time-tested techniques, augmented with AI assets like deep fakes, to dramatically increase success rate.

The stakes are higher than ever for security teams striving to protect sensitive data and maintain operational integrity. This blog explores how technology, people, and partnerships can unite to bolster their defences against these relentless threats.

The Rise of AI and Automation in Cybercrime

AI and automation are allowing attackers to execute highly advanced and efficient campaigns with minimal repetitive action. AI and automation are being employed across the attack lifecycle. Some examples include:

• Reconnaissance: attacks using AI engines to undertake automated profiling of victims through social media and public website scraping.
• Resource Development: Leveraging deepfake technology to create specific website front ends, voice, and video to aid in a spearphishing attack or campaign.
• Initial Access: Combining Machine Learning and Automation, attacks can be more methodical in how they password spray and brute force web-facing assets.
• Execution & Persistence: The FortiGuard Labs Cyberthreat Predictions 2024 report expects to start seeing attackers modulate and leverage AI within attack chains to dramatically speed up the time-to-compromise model while enhancing evasion capabilities.

The integration of AI in cybercrime has several implications. First, manual methods are being supplanted by automated processes that can target multiple systems simultaneously, resulting in the speed and scale of attacks increasing dramatically. Second, the sophistication of attacks has improved, with AI-generated malware capable of adapting to evade detection by conventional security measures. This has led to a new era of cyber threats that are more persistent and harder to mitigate.

Fighting AI with AI

Organisations have little choice but to leverage AI if they want to stand a chance of fighting these rapidly evolving and remarkably well-funded cybercriminals.

From a technology perspective, Security Architects should be evaluating and promoting security tools that operate an open and extensible ecosystem. You may recognise the line ‘No Man is an Island’ and the message of human interconnectedness extends into this blog today. A Cybersecurity tool can no longer be effective in isolation and must communicate across a broader ecosystem for the betterment of that ecosystem.

Fortinet’s AI-Driven Security Operations Platform is a combination of toolsets and services that cover the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. This platform is designed to offer Security Teams an automated AI approach that provides a high level of security effectiveness on their own but also extends that through native integrations to the rest of the platform, along with investments organisations have already made in third-party tools and services.

The Fortinet Security Operations Platform aims to provide a quantifiable reduction in risk to organisations through the bringing together of Technology, People and Processes, allowing organisations to secure devices and data, everywhere.

Organisations can leverage the Security Operations platform to enable a much faster time-to-detection & remediate, along with near real-time threat hunting across the ecosystem using Fortinet’s patented low-code/no-code playbook capability.

One such example where AI is making a significant difference is in threat intelligence. Through the correlation of Indicators of Compromise (IOC) across the platform, organisations can understand and track threats as they originate and attempt to move through the estate. With deep integrations between the Security Operations toolsets and the protections deployed at the edge or endpoint, these IOCs can be quickly remediated with no need for a manual process, drastically reducing the risk presented to the organisation by time to detect lag.

No Man is an Island

While technology is a crucial component of cybersecurity, it cannot operate in isolation. The human element remains indispensable with skilled cybersecurity professionals possessing critical thinking, creativity, and intuition - attributes that AI currently cannot replicate.

These experts are essential for success. However, organizations of all kinds are facing recruitment challenges recruitment and retainment present first-hand . This is why, as an industry, we should be empowering and guiding the young generation of cyber professionals. Fortinet offers free Cybersecurity training for professionals and works closely with our industry partners in Cynam, Techvets and more to promote our industry to the young and reskilled.

Furthermore, Fortinet promotes and inspires partnerships between our peers in the industry through events such as the International Cyber Expo and as founding members of bodies such as the Cyber Threat Alliance and the Center for Cybersecurity for the World Economic Forum. 

Conclusion

In the new era of cybercrime, where criminals are not bound by law and seemingly have an unlimited budget, the defence of our digital world requires a collaborative approach.

By integrating technology, empowering people, and sharing experiences, we can build a resilient cybersecurity framework capable of withstanding the evolving threat landscape. As we navigate this complex digital terrain, we must remain vigilant, adaptive, and collaborative to protect our organisations and, ultimately, our interconnected world.

Find out more about how Fortinet is helping guide organisations to adopt a new era of Security Operations architecture at the International Cyber Expo at Stand P70. Come and listen to my product innovation session at the Tech Hub stage called ‘Combating AI-backed Advanced Persistent Threats’ at 10:30 on the 24th of September.


written by Daniel Kendall, Fortinet