Sweden recommends fighting AI cyber threats with AI

Artificial intelligence is creating a new frontier in cyber threats, allowing hackers to target major data systems with capabilities previously unseen by security experts. The recommended countermeasure is to fight AI with AI.

“

Our human defenders cannot keep up.

"Our human defenders cannot keep up," says Pontus Johnson, a professor at KTH. A new report from the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, in collaboration with AI Sweden and the National Cybersecurity Center, offers recommendations for large Swedish organizations facing potential cyberattacks. Johnson notes the threat has emerged rapidly, with AI systems recently demonstrating surprising abilities to infiltrate large data systems.

“

AI has the knowledge to find and exploit vulnerabilities in various systems, and it changes the threat picture for our digital infrastructure.

AI's capacity to identify and exploit system vulnerabilities fundamentally alters the threat landscape for digital infrastructure. Johnson explains that AI can help identify vulnerabilities before attackers do and assist in fixing them. AI can also aid in detecting attackers attempting to breach systems. He stresses that traditional cybersecurity practices, such as strong passwords, proper backups, and timely software updates, must be improved.

“

The countermeasure against the new threats is to fight AI with AI.

The report identifies two primary actors leveraging AI for cyber threats: nation-states and cybercriminals. Nation-states, particularly China, possess significant resources and are known to spy on Sweden. Cybercriminals, while having fewer resources, are opportunistic and target a broader societal segment for financial gain through extortion, encrypting data and demanding payment to prevent leaks or decrypt information. AI enables them to conduct more extensive attacks than before.

“

The old traditional cybersecurity work must be done better. We must have better passwords, we must back up properly, and we must update software on time.