July 16, 2024
In baseball, one way to rattle an opponent hitter is to say, “Ya can’t hit what ya can’t see.” Today, we see cyber-attacks at a pace beyond a human’s ability to detect; we must consider applying artificial intelligence and automation to meet the current threat.
During the interview today, Palo Alto’s Erix Trexler outlines the correct approach for cyber defense. First, it is not enough to identify a threat. One needs to get the data, normalize it, and sort it quickly to have actionable intelligence. From there, actions can be taken to stop the attack.
Brigadier General Greg Touhill (retired) was the first Federal Chief Information Security Officer. He once said if you prioritize everything, you prioritize nothing.
Eric Trexler expands on this concept by emphasizing that each agency must have an effective strategy of prioritizing data, automating response, and then having a formal incident response in place.
"We have a new report out showing that the average customer has 16 cloud security tools as they're migrating to the cloud. Not just cybersecurity, but within cybersecurity, 16 cloud tools. You have got to bring it together in a platform approach."
Erick suggests that artificial intelligence can provide abilities like anomaly detection, capacity prediction, threat intelligence and even data classification to be able to execute an effective strategy.
Each agency has a varying level of cyber defense maturity. Eric emphasizes that a company with the resources of Palo Alto they can meet you where you are in your journey.
If you enjoyed this episode, then you may want to listen to
EP 169 – Known Exploited Vulnerabilities
Dive deeper into the tactical side of federal cybersecurity threats, especially those that exploit strategic gaps.EP 178 – Akamai & Identity Management
Complement strategic thinking with practical solutions around identity and access management
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