David McKeown, senior information security officer and deputy chief information officer for cybersecurity at the Department of Defense, is looking for potential applications of artificial intelligence in the cybersecurity domain in support of DOD’s zero trust strategy, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.
Speaking at an AFCEA TechNet Emergence panel, McKeown said he is “in search of ways we can leverage AI that are on the cybersecurity front” and called on industry members to present “any products out there that are leveraging AI to do cybersecurity things.”
McKeown said that inside the Pentagon, the Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Office oversees DOD’s data and AI future, but it is mainly focused on integrating AI into warfighter missions, such as optimizing aircraft maintenance activities.
The previous Wash100 awardee said that it is imperative to provide cyber defenders the capabilities to identify anomalous behavior rapidly as cyber actors are increasingly using sophisticated techniques to evade detection.
“They’re going to get on your networks, and in a lot of cases when they arrive there, they’re going to look like a legitimate user. Oftentimes they’re not uploading any payloads that have signatures that our tools will see,” McKeown warned. “[So] we’ve got to get really good at knowing what anomalous looks like. … What’s in the realm of the possible for anomalous behavior detection?”
McKeown will serve as a keynote speaker at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit on June 6. Register here to join and hear from government and industry experts about the dynamic and ever-evolving role of cyber in the public sector.