In an exclusive interview with Cyber Intelligence, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora explains the growing importance of real-time threat intelligence and why cybersecurity security advisers must act as wartime consiglieres.
Cyber Intelligence: Palo Alto Networks has its own research arm, Unit 42. Why was it set up, and can you explain the importance of having a dedicated threat intelligence team at your disposal?
Nikesh Arora: In our business, assessing risk is crucial. There is a constantly evolving threat landscape, and cybercriminals are constantly introducing new techniques and developing existing ones. And as online connectivity grows, so does every organization’s overall attack surface. Unit 42 are constantly conducting research examining the full scope of the ever-expanding attack surface and constantly testing existing defenses. They play the role of cybercriminals, acting as white-hat hackers, if you like, in order to detect potential weaknesses. This research is conducted across the board and also directed at each client-specific attacks surface. And when there is a breach, Unit 42 is there to detect and control it. They effectively act as wartime consiglieres – remember that the ongoing Russia/Ukraine conflict started in cyberspace. They must also act immediately to mitigate any breach that does occur. Constant research and testing of defenses are vital. We have to be right every time, but the cybercriminal gangs only have to be right once to effect a breach and perform a successful attack.
Cyber Intelligence: Can you outline the risks inherent in the increasingly widespread use of QR matrix bar codes in the corporate and consumer environments?
Nikesh Arora: QR codes are a mechanism to quickly accomplish a task or provide information, such as the code that frequently appears at the bottom of a restaurant menu. For a bad actor, this is an excellent opportunity to begin an attack. As all QR codes look pretty much the same to the naked eye, all the cybercriminal needs to do is to print a malignant QR code and then stick it over the genuine one in a restaurant, hotel, or wherever. The user’s browser can then be directed to a weaponized site. To combat this threat, you need a browser that is intelligent – one that can identify such a site before it is too late. The right place to protect against QR attacks is in the browser itself. For this reason, Palo Alto Networks acquired Talon’s Enterprise Browser two years ago. This provides additional layers of protection against malicious browser extensions, phishing attacks, and web-based attacks. Talon also offers extensive controls to help ensure that sensitive data does not escape the confines of the browser, regardless of whether the enterprise manages the device.
Cyber Intelligence: Zero Trust is a recent buzzword, but the desired result can be hard to achieve. Can you explain how to combine operational resilience with the simplicity of use needed to make Zero Trust accessible and easy to grasp for ordinary staff members?
Nikesh Arora: On a very fundamental level, don’t trust anything. Many provide an environment where some staff are in the office, while others may be working from home and others may be travelling. The key is to trust everyone and no one at the same time. It is important to try to instigate consistent security protocols throughout the organization that are adopted by the entire staff.
Cyber Intelligence: Nikesh, your own personal career has played a transformative role in developing current online technology and mobile communications. Did you ever foresee the security hazards we face today?
Nikesh Arora: When I was a senior executive at Google, I was called in at the weekend once in 2009, which was unusual, and I had my first brush with cybercrime. We had to urgently examine what happened and monitor our teams in a specific country. I learned then that cybercrime is an inevitable consequence of the increasingly widespread use of mobile communications. Seven years ago, just before I came to head up Palo Alto Networks, I realized that the cybersecurity industry was a new industry, it is only 25 years old and was born at the beginning of this century, and, like every new industry, would rapidly go through a period of consolidation where it would inevitably be dominated by several large players and I was determined to make Palo Alto Networks such a player.
Cyber Intelligence: The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) across all sectors by corporate and individual staff members has created numerous security threats. What steps should companies now take to shore up their defenses?
Nikesh Arora: AI is now a worldwide phenomenon, and we all want to use it. But AI inevitably has unpredictable outcomes and is developing a brain of its own. In the hands of a bad actor, it can prove to be a devastating weapon. And it has already moved out of the laptop and smartphone space into other areas, such as self-driving cars, making a vast array of devices and applications vulnerable to a takeover by bad actors. In the case of its use for self-driving cars, it could even be deployed to effect an assassination attempt by causing a car accident.
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