AI vulnerabilities have been a growing concern in the tech world, and it appears that a security solution is on the horizon. "AI applications are vulnerable in ways that other applications are not," said Tim Falinski, Vice President of Consumer for Trend Micro in Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. He explained that these vulnerabilities can include risks where prompts cause AI applications to "misbehave" due to the instructions being supplied or because the model in how an AI works has been tampered with, altering its behavior.
"If an AI application has been tampered with in some way, it can be directed by a malicious actor to do things such as steal sensitive information you may be storing on your PC," he added.
New Security Paradigm
In a world where traditional security software struggles against scams and SMS phishing, the need for a new form of internet security is evident. This new security solution aims to safeguard the AI component of modern PCs. "The risks that come with using AI applications on your local device are very different from the traditional 'malware' risks such as viruses or phishing or ransomware that traditional antivirus solutions protect," said Falinski.
"If you choose to buy an AI PC and only use traditional antivirus protection on it, you are not 100% protected as traditional [antivirus] is not designed to protect you from the risks of AI applications running locally on your device."
With this in mind, Trend Micro has developed a solution that promises to be a game-changer. Later this year, Trend plans to launch a security solution for consumer AI PCs, which it claims is a world first. This security platform will aim to safeguard AI applications while also utilizing neural processing units inside the latest chips to handle email security.
Innovative Approach
Trend Micro's approach involves using AI models and on-device AI to enhance email security while protecting the AI on your computer from tampering. The goal is to thwart potential AI security issues before they occur and use the insights gained to improve overall security.
It's an ambitious goal, and Trend Micro's press release on the matter includes several caveats related to some quotes in the initial story. These forward-looking statements are accompanied by words such as "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "should," "would," "plan," "predict," "potential," "seem," "seek," "