Harmful cyber activity continues to pose a risk to Australia’s defenses, with cyber threat actors using increasingly sophisticated tactics, including turning to GenerativeAI to augment their operations. Cybersecurity remains a top priority for organizations, with new GenAI tools now available to enable security analysts to defend at machine speed and scale.
Australian Super, Powerlink Queensland and TAL are leading the way in strengthening their cybersecurity measures by becoming among the first Australian organizations to deploy Microsoft Copilot for Security, the first AI generative security product to market. The service leverages extensive language models (LLMs) and leverages Microsoft’s security expertise and global threat intelligence – including 78 trillion daily threat signals – to help security defenders outpace their opponents and to move and react at the speed and scale of the machine.
Copilot for Security was offered to select organizations through the company’s Early Access Program (EAP) which began in December 2023. Earlier this month, it became available for general purchase to organizations in across Australia on a consumption-based pay-as-you-go basis. model.
“With recent reports exposing the first moves of bad actors using AI to research and refine their attacks, we are at a pivotal moment where we must bring new capabilities to ensure we can defend at machine speed,” said Evan Williams , Business Group Director for Security at Microsoft ANZ. . “Given the global skills shortage we face in cybersecurity, generative AI offers a huge opportunity to help upskill security teams, save them time when it matters most, and enable them to focus on more complex or strategic tasks. »
A recent economic study examined Copilot for Security users compared to a control group and found that experienced security analysts were 22% faster with Copilot, 7% more accurate across all tasks, and most notably, 97% said they would use Copilot the next time they perform the operation. same task. A previous study of early-career analysts found that participants using Copilot were 44% more accurate and 26% faster in core tasks such as investigation and response, threat hunting, and intelligence assessments. the threats.
Combat cybersecurity threats at scale and quickly
TAL, a leading Australian life insurer and one of the first organizations to deploy Copilot for Microsoft 365, has also signed the Copilot for Security EAP. The company says this investment supports its commitment to technological innovation, with security-focused AI tools essential to continually improve the employee and customer experience – faster and safer.
Hinesh Chauhan, Chief Information Officer of TAL, said the collaboration with Microsoft has been instrumental in integrating AI technology responsibly and securely.
“Microsoft’s Copilot program allowed us to safely experiment and learn from AI technology. AI will play an increasingly important role in combating cybersecurity threats at scale and speed. We believe our involvement in the Copilot for Security EAP will give our specialist cybersecurity teams valuable insights into what this technology can do to strengthen our threat detection and response capabilities, and enhance their knowledge and expertise.
