A Cool Take on Cybersecurity + AI

#cybersecurity #ai

Before the holidays, I attended the Canadian Cybersecurity Forum and let me tell you — the star of the show wasn’t a hacker in a hoodie. It was AI.

The keynote speaker dove straight into how AI is reshaping cybersecurity faster than most of us can update our passwords. According to them, modern AI systems can now perform the work of one or two junior pentesters when it comes to analyzing threats, detecting malware, and flagging ransomware attacks. Basically, AI has become that overachieving coworker who finishes the whole team’s tasks before lunch.

But the message wasn’t “AI is taking jobs.” Instead, it was “AI is changing jobs.” Entry level roles in cybersecurity are evolving. Some responsibilities — like Pentester Level 1 and Level 2 tasks — are merging, and new roles are emerging that blend technical skills with something surprisingly human: critical thinking. The speaker emphasized that professionals now need to understand concepts like AI hallucinations to properly assess risks. In other words, you can’t just trust the machine — you need to know when it’s confidently wrong.

I also joined a Microsoft virtual session on Cybersecurity in the Age of AI, where the host highlighted how LLMs and agentic AI can help identify, isolate, and respond to attacks from malicious actors trying to access sensitive client data. a. AI isn’t just reshaping our professional lives — it’s creeping into our personal ones too, hopefully in ways that don’t involve it judging our browser history.

All of this has only deepened my interest in it’s confidently wrong. I also joined a Microsoft virtual session on Cybersecurity in the Age of AI, where the host highlighted how LLMs and agentic AI can help identify, isolate, and respond to attacks from malicious actors trying to access sensitive client data. AI isn’t just reshaping our professional lives — it’s creeping into our personal ones too, hopefully in ways that don’t involve it judging our browser history.

All of this has only deepened my interest in cybersecurity. It’s a field that’s evolving quickly, full of new challenges, new tools, and new opportunities. I even found an article recently about how AI is affecting in cybersecurity — and let’s just say, the future cybersecurity might look less like a lone wolf hacker and more like a human AI duo with matching hoodies.