AI Is Upending Cybersecurity as Breaches and Attacks Multiply

In a Decoder interview, Alex Stamos, chief security officer at Cognition and a Stanford lecturer, argues that the cybersecurity industry is struggling to keep pace with AI-accelerated hacking. Both criminal groups and state actors such as Russia and North Korea are using AI to find and exploit vulnerabilities more quickly. Stamos describes the current period as a frontier-like moment, comparable to the 1990s rise of the always-online world. He also points to recent chained breaches across AI-related companies, including a large crypto heist, as evidence of the escalating threat. While he is not pessimistic over the long term, he expects a difficult transition period as defenders adapt.