Karen Buffo is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at MixMode. In this role, she is responsible for product, solution, account-based marketing, customer programs, brand and creative, communications, analyst relations, field and channel marketing and enablement. Prior to MixMode, Buffo was the CMO of Anomali and the CMO of Symantec, a Division of Broadcom and held several leadership roles during her tenure at Oracle. She is a recognized industry keynote speaker, mentor, and contributor to the Cybersecurity community.
With another Black Hat Conference in our rearview mirror, we reflect on the key takeaways from this year’s event. Black Hat 2024, brought together a record 21,700 attendees from 117 countries to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. Over six days, cybersecurity professionals immersed themselves in cutting-edge training, insightful briefings, and a bustling business hall featuring over 400 booths. This year’s conference proved once again why Black Hat remains the industry’s most influential cybersecurity event.
Key Takeaways of Black Hat 2024:
AI: No Longer Just a Buzzword
AI has been a recurring theme at Black Hat and other Cybersecurity conferences in recent years but there was a fundamental shift this year from AI being just another buzzword to becoming a critical factor in cybersecurity strategies.
While some vendors still capitalize on the hype, the discussions at Black Hat 2024, and examples of the real-world impact AI is having on security operations, made it clear that AI in cybersecurity has moved beyond speculating about AI’s risk and potential to the immediate and practical implications for security strategies, tools and skills.
Advancements in AI are driving a lot of adoption – by both adversaries and cybersecurity vendors alike, and there was no shortage of examples showcasing AI-related security incidents, to AI-powered tools and platforms that are revolutionizing organizations’ defense strategies.
Given all the interest, Black Hat featured an inaugural AI Summit. The event, initially planned for one day, was extended due to overwhelming demand and still sold out. Attendees ranged from security professionals, data scientists and AI specialists, C-level executives, and government representatives all eager to discuss and better understand the central role that AI has come to play in cybersecurity.
Cloud Security: Growing Challenges
Cloud security was runner-up in popularity, but not for all the right reasons. Discussions highlighted the increasing challenges associated with cloud security from the complexity of unified security across hybrid cloud environments, to high-profile breaches caused by misconfigurations and insider threats. In addition, many topics focused on how the use of AI and ML has raised new concerns as adversarial attacks against cloud-based AI systems have grown.
Discussions highlighted the importance of understanding cloud security risks and that the stakes have never been higher as cloud adoption increases. A mature approach to cloud security emphasizes taking a cloud-native approach that focuses on automation, continuous monitoring and deep integration of security into all aspects of cloud operations while staying vigilant to the emerging attack vectors targeting cloud environments.
The Convergence of IT and OT Security
With digital transformation continuing to accelerate, the boundaries between IT and OT (Operational Technology) are becoming increasingly blurred and there was no shortage of discussions around the convergence of IT/OT. Sessions emphasized the increasing importance of a holistic approach to security that addresses the unique challenges of both domains.
With adversaries targeting both IT and OT systems through coordinated attacks, there was robust debate around developing new security frameworks that address these converging threats.In addition, the importance of securing IoT technology used in industrial control systems, manufacturing, utilities and other OT environments was a major theme. Discussions explored tools designed to provide visibility across both IT and OT networks, the use of AI for anomaly detection in converged environments, and the skill set required to manage these complex systems.
Securing the Supply Chain: A Critical Imperative
The Supply Chain generated significant interest at Black Hat with a focus on the critical need to secure every link as global supply chains span multiple countries, vendors, subcontractors and partners. As we saw with the Crowdstike bug that crashed Microsoft operating systems and caused the largest IT outage in history – disruption in the software supply chain can have far-reaching implications. In this latest scenario the outage crippled airlines, banking, healthcare, retail and many other industries and we still don’t know the long-term impact.
While this was an IT failure, it showcases the devastating impact a malicious supply chain attack could have on our national and economic stability. As with every other discussion at Black Hat, AI was at the center of most supply chain conversations, focusing on the potential risks of AI-generated code to how AI can be used for detecting anomalies and potential threats in the supply chain. Conversations spanned the critical balance needed between dependencies of the supply chain on cutting-edge technology and the risks associated with disruptions.
The consensus was clear: securing the global supply chain requires a holistic approach that balances cutting-edge technology with robust processes and human-centric strategies.
MixMode at Black Hat 2024 – Revolutionizing Preemptive Cyber Defense
Black Hat 2024 was a week of dynamic discussions, networking and socializing. The themes of this year’s conference resonated with MixMode and we were thrilled to be part of the conversation. Connecting with our customers, partners, and other industry experts was a highlight of the event.
As a leader of advanced AI cybersecurity solutions, it was great to see the growing adoption of AI-driven cyber defense. Traffic around the MixMode booth was at an all-time high and we enjoyed talking to attendees about the MixMode Platform and how recent enhancements to our patented AI is revolutionizing how organizations can effectively detect known and novel attacks to preemptively defend against today’s most sophisticated attacks including those targeting IT/OT environments, the supply chain and the cloud.
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Black Hat 2024 was another successful event, providing cybersecurity practitioners with the latest in research, development and trends. It demonstrated that cybersecurity is more important than ever and that there will always be a need for Cybersecurity professionals with a passion for staying up-to-date on the latest research and technologies to help organizations stay ahead of attacks and thrive. MixMode is proud to play a critical role in helping organizations gain the competitive advantage they need to succeed.
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