See It To Be It Spotlight

Raynor Dahlquist

Booz Allen Hamilton

Senior Vice President, Cyber Security Leader

Raynor Dahlquist shares how AI is reshaping cybersecurity and why we must use AI to keep pace with evolving threats...

๐—œ ๐—ด๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐˜†๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† in…the early days of the internet โ€“ first with a product manager focus of protecting the products I was building โ€“ protecting eCommerce, payment transactions and identities โ€“ and then from the POV of a provider trying to ensure the reliability and integrity of large scale infrastructure that the rest of the Internet relied upon. And, now I am focused on the AI-enabled cyber tools and platforms that our warfighters need to defeat our adversaries. My career has been a journey of continuous learning and innovation.

๐—™๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ฒ, ๐—ฎ ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐˜†๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€…one that assumes compromise โ€“ assuming that the adversary is already inside the network. Booz Allen has been the industry leader in driving adoption of solutions like zero trust architectures to drive proactive defense. Having a positive cyber mindset also means knowing that cybersecurity has become a race against time. AI-powered adversaries can infiltrate, exploit, and disappearโ€”learning and adapting inside critical networks โ€“ before todayโ€™s defenders can react. AI-speed offense versus human-speed defense is not a fair fight โ€“ and the gap is widening. Because of that, we have to use AI to fight AI โ€“ we have to adopt this mindset to enable us to build resilient, autonomous cyber defenses.

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ experience ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฐ๐˜†๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ถ๐˜€…having early experiences in leading large infrastructures which were attacked by adversaries taught me the value of an adversary-informed defense โ€“ in building systems with the adversary in mind.

๐— ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฝ ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฝ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฐ๐˜†๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ถ๐˜€…focus on learning how attackers work โ€“ understand the adversary and attack frameworks. Also, focus on AI enabled capabilities for defense of systems โ€“ learn AI fundamentals and how AI is used in real cyber systems. Worry less about certifications right now โ€“ and more on getting hands-on experiences with AI-enabled cyber operations. Pick firms like Booz Allen who are on the cutting edge of cybersecurity, join mentoring programs like The Cyber Guildโ€™s RISE Inclusive Mentoring Program, and join local cyber meetups and groups where you can learn with mentors and peer groups.

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ท๐—ผ๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ The Cyber Guild?

Sharing best practices across industries โ€“ commercial, government โ€“ and helping one another to network and learn without boundaries is very inspiring. The Cyber Guild does a fantastic job of helping folks to learn and grow.


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