The technological changes brought about by generative artificial intelligence are not escaping any sector. Nor are defense and counterintelligence, which are struggling to prepare for new attacks that could arise from this technology, senior military and intelligence officials admitted on Tuesday at the Google Cyber Defense Conference.
“Artificial intelligence can be a tool or a threat. So we use it to prepare for any attack that uses this type of new technology. We cannot be blind to it. We must learn to use it to be prepared for whatever comes,” said Enrique Pérez de Tena, head of international relations and cooperation of the Joint Cyberspace Command, a military unit specialized in the digital domain that integrates members of the Navy and the Land and Air Forces.
Pérez de Tena explained that the network has become an environment where “there is a war that is fought every day.” A war in which there are different camps, although units like yours cannot “trust anyone.” “Today, companies like Microsoft, Google or Amazon have the power. Why? Because they have the data. So if I have to choose, I prefer to be on their side than on that of their enemies,” reflects the military man, who holds the rank of frigate captain, equivalent to that of lieutenant colonel.
But sharing a side does not mean that the allies always pursue the same goals. “They are private companies and as such, their goal is to make money. That is not my goal,” Pérez de Tena continued. “If I have to be on one side, I prefer it to be on yours. But we do not trust anyone by default,” he explained.
Spain has three reference teams to respond to computer emergencies. One of them is the National Cybersecurity Institute, which covers private companies and citizens. The second is the Joint Cyber Defense Command, of military scope. The third is the National Cryptology Center, dependent on the CNI, which covers the public sector and critical infrastructures.
Carlos Abad is responsible for cybersecurity. “The first challenge is the speed with which all this is happening. Technology is evolving so fast that even experts can’t keep up with it,” he listed, referring to the risks that artificial intelligence presents to his organization, which also carries out counterintelligence work.
“The second thing to keep in mind is that the attack surface has expanded,” he continued. “Not only do we have to protect our traditional network applications, but also those of artificial intelligence, which allows a massive amplification of social networks and increases the threat and challenge we face,” he described at the Google event, held in Malaga, headquarters of the multinational’s main cybersecurity center at European level.
Abad reached out to the American company (“We can work together, I don’t see many problems if we separate sensitive data from the rest of the data,” he said) and indicated that his main concern right now is training business and public sector leaders. “Managers, directors and CEOs. Because when you talk to them about artificial intelligence, they think it works like magic and they think that by pressing a button, everything is solved,” he explained: “It’s important that they know what AI can do for you and what it can’t.”
Google reaches out
Google has offered to work with private companies and governments to prevent artificial intelligence from becoming a security threat. “All the information we have is public and we share it with governments and private companies,” said Cristina González Pitarch, director of cloud security for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in a conversation with elDiario.es.
Although it cannot be ruled out that this technology could be used to launch more sophisticated attacks against institutions and organizations, the management of the multinational claims that this moment has not yet arrived. “We are one step ahead,” he boasts, explaining that artificial intelligence is more useful for “detecting” and “tracking” these offensives than for launching them. “Traditional attacks are still what we see the most,” he reveals.
We are witnessing many Russian attacks, very focused on Ukraine. But also against the diplomatic headquarters of other EU countries. Their mission is to destabilize and obtain money.
The names of the attackers cited by González Pitarch are old acquaintances. Actors located in Russia, China and North Korea. “We are seeing many Russian attacks, very focused on Ukraine. But we are also now seeing these same attacks being carried out against the diplomatic headquarters of other countries in the European Union. Their mission is to destabilize and obtain money. These attacks can be very lucrative and Russia uses them to finance itself,” he says.
Attacks from China, on the other hand, focus on “critical infrastructure” or “small things that we use every day, what we call the Internet of Things,” he says. This is an alert that Enrique Pérez de Tena has also launched and linked to 5G technology. “It increases vulnerabilities exponentially. Now I may have 2,000, but tomorrow it may be 10,000. We have to plug all these holes, but the bad guys only find one,” he explained.
In any case, the Google boss indicates that Spain, although physically far from the current points of conflict, is not foreign to this warmongering in the digital sphere. “These attacks from nations are the most prominent, they are the ones we see,” he emphasizes.
The recipe to avoid these risks, according to the multinational, is to increase the training of qualified personnel to face them. In this sense, Google announced on Tuesday an investment of one million euros in the University of Malaga to contribute to the launch of a program of seminars on cybersecurity.
