AI accelerates global cybersecurity crisis, Check Point CTO warns at TAU Cyber Week - interview

Check Point's chief technology officer, Jonathan Zanger, warned that artificial intelligence is accelerating the global cybersecurity crisis during an interview at Tel Aviv University's Cyber Week. The primary issue lies in outdated software, which remains a prime target for hackers. PHP-to-shell vulnerabilities, affecting about 70% of websites worldwide, pose a severe threat as they allow unauthenticated remote control execution, potentially compromising entire systems.

The integration of AI in cyberattacks has sped up the exploitation of security vulnerabilities, with the time between vulnerability disclosure and exploitation shrinking from three to four months to just days. Traditional patching cycles are no longer sufficient to tackle modern threats, as machines cannot keep up with the speed of automated systems.

Zanger emphasized the importance of focusing on prevention rather than detection and response, as AI is increasingly being used autonomously for cybercrime. By 2025, AI software will likely operate independently across the internet, as seen in the case of Vapor Panda, a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor that targeted over 200 organizations worldwide.

While AI presents significant challenges, it is not the only vulnerability. Human behavior remains the weakest link in corporate networks, making them susceptible to sophisticated social engineering campaigns. The use of techniques like ClickFix, where attackers impersonate IT administrators to trick employees, has surged by 500%, and major breaches increasingly rely on coordinated social engineering tactics rather than pure technical attacks.