Today, cybersecurity companies are in a never-ending race against cyber criminals, each seeking innovative new tactics to outpace the other. The newfound accessibility of generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) has revolutionized how people work, but it's also made threat actors more efficient. Attackers can now quickly create phishing messages or automate vulnerability discoveries. Now more than ever, it's paramount that cybersecurity companies have a plan to address the growing skills gap and resource constraints that have a negative effect on the operational efficiency of cyber defenders.
Just as attackers are becoming more efficient by using gen AI, we believe it's imperative for cybersecurity companies to embrace genAI to help defenders become more efficient and more effective. This is why we’re thrilled that Lookout has stepped into the realm of gen AI with Lookout SAIL, the Lookout gen AI assistant. This is the next step in Lookout’s AI and machine learning (ML) journey that began when we unveiled Lookout Mobile Endpoint Security, an enterprise mobile security platform built on AI and ML.
With the introduction of Lookout SAIL, we radically change how people interact with the information on our platform and conduct cybersecurity analysis. What we're launching isn't a one-off chatbot, but rather an extension of the user interface that we will continue to build on over time. The initial functionality will focus on security education, platform navigation, and security telemetry analysis.
Lookout’s long history with AI and ML
Lookout already has a storied history with AI and ML. Since our earliest days, we've been using it to simplify security operations and increase effectiveness, especially as the corporate perimeter disappears and hybrid work becomes permanent.
Lookout’s very creation in the mid-2000s started with the realization that mobile cybersecurity wasn’t the same as doing antivirus on Windows PCs. We had to treat this as a big data problem, using ML in the cloud on apps and telemetry obtained from devices — nothing else could be effective given the constraints of mobile operating systems and applications. We now have the world’s largest dataset of mobile security information and a platform that analyzes telemetry from 215 million Android and iOS devices and 269 million apps from app stores worldwide, enabling us to provide real-time detection and response to mobile threats.
We eventually applied the same strategy when it came to anti-phishing using big data to analyze web destinations, which now analyzes telemetry from hundreds of millions of web destinations to uncover hundreds of phishing sites everyday.
In that same timeframe, Lookout also pioneered the use of ML to monitor user behavior, which solves the problem of identifying insider threats and account takeovers. Through a combination of ML and algorithmic monitoring we can detect risky and malicious behavior and prevent data leakage and exfiltration.
With all this experience under our belt, we’re excited to move into the next phase of our AI evolution with Lookout SAIL.
Introducing Lookout SAIL
Lookout SAIL puts the power of gen AI at your fingertips, making the process of learning and using a cybersecurity platform as simple as having a conversation. With the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other platforms like Google Bard, it’s tempting to simply implement a scrolling text window within the console. What we’ve found is that this creates an awkward experience, because the scrolling text window now has to replicate the functionality that was built into the system.
We took our gen AI integration one step further. We see the true value of AI not as a separate text-only user experience. Instead, we’ve integrated Lookout SAIL into the platform itself, so that we can use the carefully-crafted elements of our console as part of a richer interactive response to user questions. Users can easily “sail” around the platform to obtain answers, visualize results, and perform desired actions.
Lookout SAIL allows people to interact naturally with the Lookout platform instead of having to learn from a user manual or guide. It's the start of a journey that fundamentally transforms how people interact with systems and information, touching everything from on-boarding to training, as well as cybersecurity tasks like administration, policy creation, incident response, and threat hunting. Think of Lookout SAIL as a helpful companion, providing useful information to the user and taking them directly where they need to be, even performing actions for the user on demand.
Because it is fully integrated within Lookout’s user experience, it enhances the existing workflow and helps people interact with systems more quickly and effectively. Rather than display answers to questions within a text box, Lookout SAIL takes you to the relevant part of our console and sets the exact filters needed to give you the answer, and one day, it may even replace traditional training documents. And, as Lookout SAIL continues to evolve, we may see it able to automate some tasks completely.
Here are just a few of the ways you can take advantage of Lookout SAIL.
Security status
You can ask Lookout SAIL questions about your specific tenant to investigate your security posture. When you ask those questions, Lookout SAIL will not only give you the answer, it can also navigate you to the appropriate page with the right filters applied to show you how it found the answer. And you can have a conversation with follow-on questions for the initial response. Questions that are frequently or recently asked are displayed for convenience.
Lookout SAIL provides commonly asked questions for quick responses and has the ability to answer queries typed in by the administrator. Not only does it respond within the chat window, but it also takes the user to the relevant part of the console for further investigation.
Security education
There will also be times when security analysts need the answer to general cybersecurity questions. Lookout SAIL is equipped to answer those questions to ensure your team is up to date on industry knowledge and terms. Here we ask Lookout SAIL to explain the difference between phishing and smishing.
Lookout SAIL can also answer cybersecurity queries to ensure that the user is up to date with the latest industry knowledge and terms.
Platform navigation and operational efficiency
Every cybersecurity product has a learning curve, but Lookout SAIL can speed up onboarding to our platform by providing answers directly within the chat as well as navigating the user directly to the relevant parts of the console.
If an admin isn’t sure how to perform a task, it can simply ask Lookout SAIL and the gen AI will answer the question and navigate the user to the relevant part of the console.
Lookout’s continuing journey with AI
When Lookout first began leveraging AI and ML several years ago, we were pioneers in using the technology to tackle mobile security challenges. Now, with the advent of gen AI, we are giving our customers the tools they need to compete and win against cyber criminals using gen AI.
Generative AI has the potential to revolutionize the way that security is delivered, significantly improving the ability of organizations to protect themselves from cyber attacks. Training, policy writing, and security operations will be accelerated, ushering in a new era of efficiency and effectiveness. While there is still work to be done, it’s undeniably an exciting time to be in the cybersecurity industry.
Looking ahead, the predictive nature of AI will increase the degree of automation that is possible. As cybersecurity professionals, it’s crucial for us to embrace this journey and harness the power of gen AI to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats.
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