Microsoft Warns of 'Industrially Scalable' AI-Driven Attacks on Cyber Defenses

Microsoft's David Weston, group manager in the Windows team, has called for a shift away from traditional vulnerability remediation methods that fail to counter AI-accelerated vulnerability discovery.

In his Black Hat USA keynote, 'The End of Rare: Defending When Offense Is Cheap,' Weston explained how the increasing use of AI tools is making it cheaper, faster, and more scalable for attackers to discover vulnerabilities and create exploits.

The accelerating pace of vulnerability discovery has led Microsoft's Security Response Center (MSRC) to process and patch nine times as many vulnerabilities every six weeks compared to March this year.

Weston emphasized the need to move from reactive patching to building inherently resilient systems, citing Microsoft's own MDASH technology that can automatically generate exploits for detected vulnerabilities at a cost of just $3.61 per detection.