Artificial intelligence (AI) was front of mind for many this week, particularly Bill Gates. While Gates expounded on his thoughts about AI, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were reportedly preparing for their own version of Star Wars. Google (along with other competitors) launched Bard, its chatbot, to rival ChatGPT. Meanwhile, ChatGPT-4 was released.

In a podcast with Kara Swisher, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s Co-Founder, confessed, “Today, we can look at these systems and say, ‘All right. No imagination required, we can see how this can contribute to computer-security exploits, or disinformation, or other things that can destabilize society.’ ”

In recognizing that there are potential threats, Altman also applauded the ongoing work to “minimize those downsides.” As with all things, there must be a balance, and Altman contends that the benefits of technology will outweigh the threats. Certainly, there are upsides to AI in the healthcare industry, where “AI has begun to provide qualitative visualizations and guidance associated with suspected malignancies.”

Time will tell. To learn more about machine learning (ML) and AI as they relate to cybersecurity, check out our Library of content. If you’re attending RSA Conference 2023, be sure to reserve a seat for the sessions on the ML/AI track.

Now let’s take a look at what else made industry headlines this week.

Mar. 24: The US Attorney’s Office charged a 33-year-old New Jersey woman with conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Mar. 23: “MITRE has quietly released a cloud-based prototype platform for its new System of Trust (SoT) framework that defines and quantifies risks and cybersecurity concerns for the supply chain,” Dark Reading reported.

Mar. 23: CISA is working to establish an office that will work with those entities deemed “most vulnerable critical infrastructure organizations.”

Mar. 23: According to The Register, “Unidentified miscreants have siphoned cryptocurrency valued at more than $1.5 million from Bitcoin ATMs by exploiting an unknown flaw in digicash delivery systems.”

Mar. 22: Results of a recent Gallup poll revealed that the threat of cyberterrorism has surpassed nuclear weapons and foreign terrorism as a top US vital interest.

Mar. 22: Google suspended the app for Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo after it identified malware in versions of the software used on the app, Reuters reported.

Mar. 21: Cyberscoop reported, “In his first appearance before Congress, TikTok CEO Shou Chew will make the case that the company’s U.S. operations aren’t swayed by China.”

Mar. 21: The Italian automaker Ferrari released a cyber incident statement after the company had received a ransom demand from malicious actors who gained access to customer data.

Mar. 21: CommonMagic isn’t commonly used, but BleepingComputer reported that security researchers have discovered attacks from an advanced threat actor using this “previously unseen malicious framework.”

Mar. 20: The Hacker News reported, “The notorious Emotet malware, in its return after a short hiatus, is now being distributed via Microsoft OneNote email attachments in an attempt to bypass macro-based security restrictions and compromise systems.”