AI is Supercharging Cyber Threats. Defenders Need New Tools and Partnerships.
ITI Joins the Call to Action to Ready AI-Enabled Cyber Defenders
A broad coalition (otwiera się w nowej karcie) of leaders from across the tech ecosystem – including dozens of ITI member companies – recently issued a stark warning: AI is poised to dramatically increase the speed, scale, and sophistication of cyberattacks. The letter also outlined that there are actionable steps that organizations should take to enable a coordinated cyber defense that is grounded in partnership between companies, cybersecurity defenders, government leaders, and frontier AI developers.
For years, ITI has championed an approach to cybersecurity rooted in innovation, risk management, and collaboration. That means leveraging AI to strengthen defensive capabilities, deepening public-private partnerships to improve preparedness and response, and working with international partners to address global threats. In 2024, we detailed several of these recommendations in our AI Security Policy Principles (otwiera się w nowej karcie).
Industry’s call to seize this narrow window to strengthen cyber defenses and equip defenders with AI tools, especially those in critical infrastructure sectors should be acted on.
We reiterate our recommendations to governments to:
- Deepen public-private partnerships to achieve AI security outcomes.
- This is even more critical in an era of AI-enabled cyber threats.
- In the United States, this includes collaborative activities stood up to implement both Executive Order 14409 and the AI Action Plan, with a focus on increased information sharing regarding AI security threats and operational collaboration.
- Encourage organizations to adopt cybersecurity standards and best practices.
- This should include assessing where existing cybersecurity standards and best practices are sufficient, and where new approaches may be necessary with the introduction of AI.
- For example, many existing tools like the Cybersecurity Risk Management Framework, AI Risk Management Framework, SSDF, and zero trust principles remain useful to addressing cybersecurity risks. International standards such as ISO/IEC 27090 and 42001 also provide helpful baseline security controls.
- With the introduction of AI agents, organizations may need to adopt new or different technical controls and processes to mitigate risk and defend against cyber-attacks.
- Collaborate with international partners to align approaches, share cyber threat information, and enable collective defense.
- Cybersecurity is borderless. In an era where AI-enabled cyber threats are more pervasive than ever, working together with trusted partners and allies is critical.
- Government should take steps to enable cross-border information sharing, including as it relates to vulnerabilities, threats, and incidents. Where possible, governments should leverage existing mechanisms to do so.
- Support efforts to equip defenders with AI tools by expanding skilling initiatives and technical assistance programs.
- Where helpful, governments should explore developing new programs, or otherwise appropriately fund existing programs to ensure that the cyber workforce is trained and ready to leverage AI tools.
The rise of AI-enabled cyber threats is not a future challenge. It is a present one, and it is critical that defenders have the tools, partnerships, and resources they need to stay ahead. ITI supports this growing call to action. Industry is ready to work with governments and other stakeholders around the world to strengthen cyber resilience and ensure AI becomes a force multiplier for defenders, not attackers.
Authors
Courtney Lang
