FS-ISAC APAC Summit 2023 – AI and Quantum implications for cybersecurity

Mike Silverman has a unique blend of a business and technology background, with 20 years of experience in strategic, technological, financial, and change management leadership across many industries, primarily in Financial Services and Software. He enables firms to innovate, scale, and transform through increasing productivity, reducing costs, and streamlining processes and operations.

Mr. Silverman was previously the Global Head of Enterprise Technology Strategy at FIS, the world’s largest Financial Technology Company. Prior to that, he was a management consultant focusing on Corporate & IT Strategy, CxO Advisory, Merger & Acquisition Integration, Business Process Re-engineering, and more, and has held other roles in innovation and development.

Mike has an MBA with specializations in Strategy, Finance, and Leadership & Change Management; and a BSE in Computer Engineering, Cum Laude with Departmental Honors.

In this interview, Mike shares with the audience highlights of the FS-ISAC (financial services information sharing and analysis centre) APAC Summit 2023 – in particular, on two themes: Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Technology.

Artificial Intelligence

Noting the benefits of generative AI (for example, enabling non-technical users to do advance searches and queries), Mike also points to the potential risks such as threat actors using it for sophisticated phishing attacks, and an emerging risk particular to AI, known as AI “hallucination”.

Using an example of a loan approval and decisioning system that relies on AI technology, Mike highlights the importance of data integrity to ensure trustworthiness of the system (such as using data that is representative of the customer base). Other risks include data leakage (inputting confidential commercial and personal data into the system), or copyright infringement (using copyrighted material for training).

Mike notes that complying with terms of use of AI system cannot be overlooked, that is, attributing if the output is generated by AI. He also stresses that ethics is increasingly a topic for stakeholders in the financial services sector -such as whether to trust decisions on insurance claims or loans “to a computer”.

Such concerns, he adds, are discussed as part of “AI Risk Working Group”, where FS-ISAC members gather to build frameworks founded on good use of AI in the sector.

Quantum Technology

Mike gives a brief introduction on the latest developments, by highlighting the key characteristics of the technology, and potential security risks, such as “harvest first decrypt later”.

Besides NIST’s efforts (also known as PQC – post quantum cryptography) to update cryptographic algorithms to mitigate potential risks, he stresses the importance for firms to conduct an inventory of cryptographic algorithms running applications, and identify data that are most at risk. He also reminds that it is not a simple patch and may entail re-writing of code, and hence requires coordination across the industry (for example, PoS to work with merchant banks).

Mike highlights that quantum technology is a key topic at each FS-ISAC summit, and that members have developed white papers on the topic. He also shares that FS-ISAC is leading the financial services global congress on PQC, where working groups around the world pool resources and knowledge to share learnings and best practices.

Recorded 3rd August 2023, U.S. PST 6.am. SGT 9pm.
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