Skills Cybersecurity Professionals need in the AI Era

Did you know ChatGPT stands for Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer? Yes, it’s not just a cool combination of alphabets, it means something. In my previous article, the exciting role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in cybersecurity, we learnt that Chat GPT reached one million users in just five days while it took X (formerly Twitter) 2 years and Instagram 2.5 months to reach the same feat. Surely, Artificial intelligence is here to stay and now for the first time ever, jobs requiring AI skills have taken the number one spot on the list of most difficult IT roles to fill.

For example, the everyday person may not need to understand what each of the words, Generative, Pretrained and Transformer in ChatGPT implies, but to the security professional this is crucial. So, what skills do security professionals need to stay relevant in the AI era?  Let’s take look!

An Understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

In General, Artificial intelligence is the technology that enables computer systems to perform tasks that typically requires human intelligence. It enables computers to learn human and programming languages, recognize patterns and make decisions after analyzing large amounts of data. Presently, many aspects of our business and personal lives incorporates Artificial Intelligence.

To protect against AI threats and ensure its responsible use and safety, security professionals need to understand key concepts of AI. This includes Machine Learning (ML), Large Language Models (LLMS), Neural Networks and Natural Language Processing (NLPs). In addition, we should understand data set generation, training algorithms and evaluation methods. Furthermore, we must understand various attacks launched against AI systems, including, data poisoning, data manipulation and exposure of sensitive information.

Threat Intelligence and Analysis

Security professionals need to be proficient in analyzing the data AI tools use to predict and mitigate emerging cyber threats. For instance, Next-generation firewalls (HGFWs), SIEM and XDR (extended detection and response) platforms have rapidly integrated AI. These do not use traditional rule-based filtering and signatures to detect threats. Instead, they learn from historical and live data to accurately recognize irregular patterns and predict potential threats. Additionally, we need to understand how AI systems aggregate and analyze large volumes of data from the dark web, malware repositories and threat intelligence feeds. This helps mitigate AI engineered phishing, malware, Zero-day and Internet of Things (IoT) attacks.

Soft Skills

Beyond technical skills, soft skills such as effective communication, collaboration, problem solving, and ethical judgement is critical to the success of security professionals in the AI era. In the coming years, security professionals will focus on tasks that need human input and creativity. This is because Artificial Intelligence will automate many routine jobs. For example, as AI excels in writing tasks such as email and coding, effective face-to-face oral communication will become vital. Consequently, professionals who foster a sense of trust and dependability will handle sensitive data and tasks that cannot be fed into AI models.

Others to Consider

Firstly, security professionals should be conversant with data privacy and security topics to ensure AI systems are designed with enough guardrails to safeguard intellectual property and confidential data. Equally, we should be aware of the possibilities of bias and discrimination in AI data models to protect against it.

Next, Security professionals should champion ethical and responsible AI. We should be at the forefront of auditing AI systems, so its decisions are more transparent and explainable. Also, we should be conversant with compliance frameworks such as ISO/IEC 42001 AI Management Systems and encourage industries to incorporate them as part of their AI adoption strategy. With these in place, professionals help build trust in AI systems.

Finally, while this may not be new to most security professionals, there is the need for continuous learning that goes beyond recertification timelines. Continuous learning requires a genuine interest to stay up to date with emerging AI and cybersecurity technologies. It also requires a willingness to learn and adapt to new innovations. To begin, take a look at CompTIA AI Essentials, Certified AI Security professional and IBM’s Generative AI for Cybersecurity Professionals course. Indeed, continuous upskilling of both technical and soft skills is essential to staying relevant in the AI era.

To sum it all up!

Artificial Intelligence is moving at a an incredibly quick pace. It is transforming many aspects of our lives than any technology before it. AI is increasingly integrating into various aspects of our lives. Like many before it, it comes with many benefits and associated challenges. In fact, we must ensure bad actors do not weaponize AI for cybercrime. We also owe it to the public to ensure AI systems do not generate harmful content, misinformation or bias.

To achieve this, we must understand the fundamental concepts of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Additionally, we must know how to protect AI systems from adversarial attacks and emerging cyber threats. In the not-too-distant future, AI advancements will require security professionals to shift roles from everyday tasks to more strategic and creative positions. Security professionals with the right combination of technical and soft skills will see success in the AI era.