AI is Reinventing Cybercrime – It’s Time to Rethink Security

Danny Jenkins, ThreatLocker CEO and Co-Founder, explains how AI is reinventing cybercrime and, as a result, it’s time for companies to start rethinking their security. This article originally appeared in Insight Jam, an enterprise IT community that enables human conversation on AI.

AI has taken the world by storm—empowering both attackers and users. Users are downloading third-party tools to boost productivity and output like never before. They install an extension and use a chatbot; just like that, with one small step, they can be more efficient and write better emails. But users don’t always know what they’re downloading. That extension could steal all your data, and that chatbot may send home everything it sees. People and companies don’t know what the AI is doing with their data. That’s a problem. What’s the difference between a malicious actor stealing your data and a user willingly handing it over? Not much. The outcome is the same.

Generative AI has also made it easier than ever for attackers to create novel code without much technical skills. As a former ethical hacker, I used to find it much harder to break into systems and create malware. You had to either write your own, which took time and skills or reuse known malware. Now, all an attacker needs is to know how to guide their choice of large language model to create malicious code. No prior knowledge is required. And since they’re using generative AI, the code they made may have never been seen before—likely evading detection.

That’s where the Zero Trust philosophy comes in. Deny by default, permit by exception. This approach is much better than traditional detection and response methods because it doesn’t matter if the code has never been seen before or you’re unsure if it’s malicious. Block it before it can execute. Otherwise, it’s a constant battle of trying to figure out if it’s bad or not. You will never win that battle.

Using a perimeter-based security model worked in the past because Zero Trust was too difficult to implement, and it was easier to trust what was inside your network. With remote workforces and an unending number of digital applications, it’s not easy to trust and track what’s inside your network anymore. ThreatLocker has made Zero Trust attainable and easy to implement for companies of all sizes worldwide.

The industry is realizing that detection and response are not enough, especially with the rise of AI-generated malware. You cannot hope to keep up with every novel malware created. Generative AI churns out never-before-seen malware in seconds. And traditional security? It’s stuck playing catch-up, trying to detect threats that have already breached the walls. This is why a Zero Trust philosophy is more critical to your security. The Zero Trust approach will significantly reduce the catch-up game, the guesswork, and the reactionary panic—much less of that and much more solid control.