Hi ,

Last week, I asked you to tell me your top cybersecurity concerns, in preparation for the release of my Ultimate Cybersecurity Survival Guide.

And in that survey, I was surprised by one topic that jumped out of the results more than any other. In a nutshell, it was How Will Artificial Intelligence Affect Cybersecurity?​​​​​​​

Here is a small sample of your questions about artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity:

• How will AI affect the average user's cybersecurity?
• Is AI going to make it even harder to protect my systems?
• How can I make sure that AI will not be used to steal my identity?
• Can AI guess all my passwords?
• Will AI help the bad guys create more sophisticated viruses?
• Is AI going to be a blessing or a curse for cybersecurity?

It's true that AI seems to be everywhere lately. In 2022, OpenAI's ChatGPT started all the buzz, with the ability to converse in a human-like manner, create essays, poems, and even produce code. Fast forward to today, AI technology is advancing, and so is the fear that AI will make it ever easier for cybercriminals to hack into vulnerable servers, personal computers and mobile devices.

Are we doomed to face an onslaught of sophisticated viruses, ransomware and data breaches? Will personal privacy give way to omnipresent surveillance? Will AI surpass human intellectual capacity and develop consciousness?

I do believe that recent advances in AI have the potential to significantly affect cybersecurity. But it's a two-edged sword: It will apply both in terms of thwarting cyberthreats and in enhancing the skills of adversaries.

If you'd like to read my analysis of how AI is likely to impact online security and privacy, check out "The Ultimate Cybersecurity Survival Guide". There's an entire chapter in the ebook devoted to that topic, in which I discuss five potential hazards of AI, and five ways that AI could be used to defend against those emerging threats.

See you tomorrow,
-- Bob