Microsoft is using AI to protect Windows against attackers. The development represents an arms race because AI is also increasingly used to find vulnerabilities in modern technology, as highlighted Hacker News.
Hackers can use AI to find and exploit vulnerabilities that they could then weaponize. It’s not just discovery that has accelerated, but reverse engineering security flaws is now a faster process thanks to AI. That means attackers can quickly find flaws and exploit them before traditional protection methods can take effect.
To combat those malicious actors and evolving tactics, Microsoft is implementing MDASH (Multi-Model Agent Scan Harness) at scale on Windows.
Pavan Davuluri, executive vice president of Windows and devices at Microsoft, shared a blog post about the new methods the company is using to protect Windows.
“The quickest way to reduce customer exposure is to find problems before attackers can exploit them,” Davuluri said. “Windows is expanding its ability across the platform to find issues earlier, accelerate engineering work to fix them, strengthen validation, and deliver timely, high-quality updates that keep customers protected.”
Using AI to identify potential flaws, prioritize fixes, and scale discovery across the entire Windows codebase allows Microsoft to quickly deploy protection to customers.
To scale MDASH to Windows, a dedicated cloud infrastructure was set up to scan for potential failures. An independent testing process is then used to eliminate false positives. The Windows engineering team can then act on the most likely candidates that need to be addressed.
Microsoft will expand its use of AI for scanning and testing to other parts of the company.
Use AI to improve work
When Microsoft announced 4,800 layoffs companywide, its leaders emphasized that the eliminated roles will not be replaced by AI. People across a wide range of industries are concerned that automation will take away human jobs.
The approach Microsoft is using to look for problems and streamline the candidate selection process to address represents AI helping people rather than replacing workers.
When talking about improving internal systems and practices, Davuluri said, “That means using AI to help identify potential problems earlier in the development process, while relying on human expertise to evaluate findings, make risk-based decisions, and ensure solutions meet the level of quality customers expect.”
The end result is that more security updates will be included in each security release, which should protect PCs from the increasing number of attacks.
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