Simon Green, President of APAC & Japan at Palo Alto Networks, warns that while AI offers major advances in cybersecurity, it also empowers bad actors, making defense strategies more critical than ever.

Palo Alto

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

Palo Alto Networks has observed a surge in the adoption of artificial intelligence across industries, noting that while organizations are rapidly building AI capabilities, cybersecurity is not always prioritized in these efforts. The company warns that adversaries are quick to exploit AI, making it vital for organizations to adopt a 'secure by design' approach and implement zero trust principles to mitigate both external and internal threats.

Despite the increasing sophistication of cyber threats, Palo Alto Networks remains optimistic about AI's defensive potential, leveraging decades of data and advanced machine learning to enhance security. The company also stresses the need for regulatory frameworks to adapt quickly, as the speed and complexity of attacks continue to accelerate.

AI transforms cybersecurity, but threats evolve too, says Palo Alto

Give me your thoughts. Are we in an AI bubble or not? Well, Martin, it's terrific to see you and thank you again for having me. There's no question that the AI is at fever pitch right now. No matter where I travel, sitting in front of clients, they're talking about the impressive efforts they're putting into building models, enabling their employees. But what's apparent is that cybersecurity is not necessarily at the center of all these decision making. So, no question it's at fever pitch bubble. I'm not an equity expert for sure. Fair enough. Why is cybersecurity not at the center of this whole debate? Well, I think that most organizations have been racing to build out these capabilities, whether it's open AI, as you talked about three years ago, chat GPT dropped. And I think most employees jumped in on that effort for good, and then sort of helped organizations lead the way forward with artificial intelligence. But most of the defense capabilities around cybersecurity were still in being people were trying to protect the networks, protecting their cloud deployments, and not necessarily thinking about the implications of AI. By contrast, the adversary jumped on it very, very quickly. So here's something else that is a little bit worrying, right? When we think of cybersecurity, we think of external threats, bad actors, etc., right? In the case of AI, and we're pushing towards agentic AI, where literally humans are being taken out of the equation. Algos or machines are making decisions, right? Often on, I guess, on our behalf. So, you know, the way I think about it is the risk is the threat could potentially come from within. It could be bad tech. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's no question that, you know, adversaries are getting more and more sophisticated, the bad actors, you say, machine to machines are becoming more apparent, we are moving to an agentic world. But organizations and the work that we're trying to do is make sure that we are secure by design. Everything that we're doing as we're rolling out these AI agents and rolling out AI LLMs and building these models, that security is at the center of it. So secure by design is absolutely critical to avoid what you're talking about. Even from internal or inherent threats to do with bad tech itself? Well, I think that the inherent threat is, you know, exists, whether it's just technology, or even people, you know, we've seen adversarial behavior where fake employees have been created and infiltrated organizations. So, you know, we have to be aware, you know, our zero trust is what we talk about. And it's not just zero trust from a deployment of technology, but zero trust with everything that we do. Trust nothing. Verify everything. Verify everything. Absolutely. Indeed. With AI becoming so much more advanced than what we've been used to, right? The use case for bad actors, for criminals included in that, not to mention state actors, does that become even greater? It does. But I think that you have to be optimistic about this. You know, we've been doing artificial intelligence as an organization, leveraging deep learning, machine learning for well over a decade. And then you bring to the fore this, you know, generative AI, you bring those three capabilities together. We talk about precision AI, the ability to take large amounts of data, which we've been collecting for 20 years, and make very, very precise decisions. So we are optimistic that we can take the benefits of artificial intelligence, help customers deploy AI bravely, and use AI for defense to avoid, you know, this adversarial behavior. There's no question the techniques are getting better and better, but we are getting better and better too. So we're optimistic that you can use AI for defense. Irbis and cybersecurity, are you confident that it is going to move closer to the center of the debate as and when regulation catches up over AI? Well, I think the challenge for the regulators, Martin, is that the pace of which they need to change and be able to make the right decisions to protect the citizens and the organizations that, you know, their countries, I think that the challenge is they have to speed up, because these attacks are coming faster and faster and faster. We're now down into minutes where people, adversaries can get in and get out. So I think that the challenge for regulators is just going to be pace of change, that they've never had to deal with this level of pace before.

U.S. President Donald Trump was greeted in Tel Aviv with cheers and a military ceremony as he met families of hostages held in Gaza and addressed Israel's parliament. He now travels to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to join world leaders in discussions on Gaza's future.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Middle East Conflict

Trump meets with Israeli leaders and hostage families

Twenty living hostages were released by Hamas after more than two years in captivity as a ceasefire continues to hold. Families in Israel describe emotional reunions while others continue to await confirmation about missing relatives.

Families reunite as ceasefire brings hostages, prisoners home

Israeli officials have confirmed that all 20 living captives have been released in Gaza.

Israel confirms all 20 living captives in Gaza have been released

The carefully choreographed Israel-Hamas exchange is underway, with Israel set to release around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners following the release of remaining hostages held in Gaza. Noga Tarnopolsky reports from Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square.

Israel-Hamas swap begins as 2,000 Palestinian prisoners set for release

Following his visit to Israel, President Trump will stop in Egypt to co-host a major summit in Sharm el-Sheikh alongside Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. The meeting will bring together leaders from more than 20 countries to discuss efforts toward peace in Gaza and the wider Middle East.

Sharm El-Sheikh

Donald Trump to co-host chair Gaza peace summit in Egypt

The French presidency announced Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's new cabinet line-up on Sunday (October 12), with most top jobs remaining unchanged at a time when opponents are demanding a political shift to win their support for urgent budget talks.

Paris

French presidency unveils new cabinet as budget pressure intensifies

Seven captives have been handed over to the Red Cross, who will facilitate their transfer to Israeli forces.

Israeli military says Red Cross has received 7 captives in Gaza

On his way to the Middle East, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters he expects the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to hold, despite concerns Hamas won’t abide by the deal.

Washington

Trump says the 'war is over', Gaza rebuild to start immediately

China on Sunday (October 12) called U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariffs on Chinese goods hypocritical and defended its curbs on exports of rare earth elements and equipment, but stopped short of imposing new levies on U.S. products.

Beijing

Global Tariffs

Beijing blames U.S. for trade tensions, defends rare earth curbs

Afghanistan and Pakistan said they killed dozens of each other's troops during a night of heavy border clashes between the two countries. Afghanistan's Taliban forces launched attacks on Pakistani troops along their shared border in what it called "retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul".

Chaman

Border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan leave dozens dead

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas held in Gaza for a third day ahead of the expected release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and an address by U.S. President Donald Trump to Israel's parliament.

Ceasefire holds in Gaza ahead of hostage release, Trump visit

Zelenskyy called Trump for a second consecutive day to discuss defence and Ukraine's energy sector. It comes as Russia further intensifies its attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure ahead of its harsh winter.

Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

Zelenskyy has second call with Trump amid Russian strikes

On Sunday, the minister of armed forces in Madagascar acknowledged an officer selected by a military group supporting demonstrators calling for President Andry Rajoelina to resign as the country's new army chief.

Antananarivo

Madagascar’s president says coup underway

With a trade war between the U.S. and China intensifying ahead of a Nov. 1 tariff deadline, there’s growing concern Beijing will use Taiwan as a bargaining chip.

Taipei City

Growing fear China will use Taiwan to bargain with U.S.

In a televised address ahead of the planned release of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for unity despite ongoing divisions.

Netanyahu urges Israel put aside ‘differences’ with Gaza

U.S. President Donald Trump blamed Democrats for his decision to lay off thousands of workers across the U.S. government as he followed through on his threat to cut the federal workforce during the government shutdown.

Trump lays off thousands of U.S. government workers amid shutdown

Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv as 48 of the last remaining hostages are expected home after two years of the Israel-Hamas war. The crowd cheered Donald Trump as the peace deal's broker but there were jeers for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Tel Aviv braces for hostage release planned for Monday

Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning star of Annie Hall and The Godfather films, died Saturday at the age of 79, according to U.S. media reports. Entertainment journalist Johanna Schneller remembers Keaton as 'feisty and funny'.

Hollywood

Oscar winner Diane Keaton dead at 79

Former President Biden is now receiving radiation and hormone therapy to treat his prostate cancer, an aide said. The cancer is considered aggressive.

Biden receiving radiation, hormone therapy to treat aggressive cancer

It is unclear how many people were inside the Tennessee plant that exploded on Friday, but at least 16 people were reported on Saturday. Sheriff Chris Davis announced that there are no survivors. Nicole Valdes reports.

Tennessee

No survivors in Tennessee plant explosion, sheriff says

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters in London marked two years since the War in Gaza. However, the British government has seen enough. Haley Ott reports that police have been given sweeping powers to curb repeated demonstrations.

London

British Parliament designates Palestine Action a terrorist organization

Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff has addressed hundreds of thousands of Israelis in what's known as “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv. Witkoff hailed President Donald Trump for securing the ceasefire. The crowd was less receptive to his praise for Benjamin Netanyahu.

U.S. envoy booed for praising Netanyahu at Tel Aviv rally

A ceasefire is in effect between Hamas and Israel after just over two years of war. An exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinians held prisoner is set to take place in the coming days, and U.S President Donald Trump is set to visit the region on Monday.

Trump set to visit Middle East as peace plan take effect

The families of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 are eagerly awaiting the return of their loved ones. The peace deal between Israel and Hamas would see the hostages returned within 72 hours of its implementation Friday.

Families of hostages in Gaza await their release

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he's had phone calls with Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump about defence and energy infrastructure. Russian strikes have led to widespread blackouts in Ukraine.

Trump holds call with Zelenskyy after Russian strikes

Gaza City lies in devastation — returning Palestinians find their homes reduced to rubble and familiar streets erased. It comes after a U.S-brokered peace deal came into effect.

Sderot

Gaza City in ruins as Palestinians return to find only rubble

About 200 U.S. troops have begun arriving in Israel to set up a coordination center aimed at facilitating the flow of humanitarian aid, as well as logistical and security assistance into Gaza. They are not expected to enter the territory.

Jerusalem

U.S. troops arriving in Israel to oversee Gaza ceasefire

North Korea has displayed one of its latest intercontinental ballistic missiles at a military parade in the capital, Pyongyang. Leader Kim Jong Un and senior officials from China, Russia and Vietnam were in attendance.

Pyongyang

North Korean weapons on display at Pyongyang parade

President Donald Trump says the U.S. will reimpose 100% tariffs on Chinese imports after Beijing curbed exports of rare-earth minerals, ending months of trade calm.

Trump revives U.S.-China trade war with new tariffs

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for keeping "the flame of democracy burning amid growing darkness." Machado opened up to CBS News about her decades of fighting for fair elections in an exclusive interview while in hiding.

AI transforms cybersecurity, but threats evolve too, says Palo Alto

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Rise of AI