Cybercriminals using AI in attacks introduced AI-powered malware to government IT environments, potentially bypassing traditional security measures. Because of this, government officials must use AI in their cyberdefenses, Di Bene says.
“It’s important to capitalize on AI-driven analytics and identifying threats in real time,” she says. “Of course, please don’t forget about cybersecurity basics like patch management.”
Broadly, local governments must invest in security-by-design principles and strengthen threat protection and prevention, automated security response and incident response, predictive analytics, behavioral analytics, malware detection, and phishing detection, she adds.
Loudoun County is using AI-empowered cybersecurity solutions, Di Bene confirms. “You can’t escape it, between XDR solutions and identity solutions and all SOC solutions. We developed an AI chatbot as well, based on Microsoft OpenAI,” she says.
RELATED: Government leaders identify their most important security KPIs.
Local Government IT Leaders to Assess Policies and Solutions
For a decade, the Public Technology Institute has hosted the PTI Cyber Summit, and the institute added AI to the summit’s focus last year, says Alan R. Shark, the organization’s executive director.
“This year’s AI and Cyber Summit takes the conversation to the next level: AI has become completely intertwined with cybersecurity,” Shark says. “Teaming with the IBM Center for The Business of Government provides a rich opportunity to test-drive the latest technologies and ask difficult questions without any sales pressure.”
The 2025 PTI AI and Cyber Summit will address the following questions:
- What are the new technologies we need to know and understand today as well as tomorrow?
- Looking ahead, how do we manage costs, complexity and sustainability when we know the cost of AI is going way up?
- What are the costs vs. benefits of new AI technology?
- What governance and policy issues should we plan for?
- What would happen if the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center were to go away or see a reduction in services?
PTI will stream the summit virtually to ease participation for any local governments that cannot afford to travel to Washington, D.C.
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