AI’s dark side

I've been getting lots of questions about security.

WordPress has dropped more than one significant security fix in the past few weeks.

Beacon CRM -- a major subscription-based (paid) CRM for UK nonprofits -- announced a serious security breach and data disclosure at the end of last month.

There's more, and folks in the geeky circles I run in are taking about it.

What's going on?!

Part of it is just normal life.

Hackers gonna hack, defenders gonna defend, sometimes it be like that.

But...

AI-driven threats are on the rise.

Just as you're probably using AI tools to try and make your work easier, the bad guys are doing the same for themselves. Because of this, I think we can expect security threats -- and security fixes on supported software -- to come out with increasing frequency.

What this means for you and me:

Keeping your software up to date just keeps getting more important.

I've worked with organizations who’ve been bitten by this.

It's no fun for them. At all.

So...

Check your backup processes.
Check your update procedures.
Check your system monitoring.

If you stay on top of it, you might look back later and wonder what the hubbub was about.

But if you don't, you'll probably find out, sooner or later.

All the best,
A.