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Sophos Unveils 4 New Open Artificial Intelligence Developments
Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has announced four new open Artificial Intelligence (AI) developments to help broaden and sharpen the industry’s defenses against cyberattacks, including datasets, tools and methodologies designed to advance industry collaboration and cumulative innovation.
This move accelerates a key Sophos objective to open its data science breakthroughs and make the use of AI in cybersecurity more transparent, all with the aim of better protecting organizations against all forms of cybercrime.
While it is common practice to share AI methodologies and findings in other industries, cybersecurity has lagged in this effort, creating a noisy understanding of how AI truly provides protection against cyberthreats.
Sophos and its team of SophosAI data scientists are catalyzing this change toward openness, so that IT managers, security analysts, CFOs, CEOs, and others making security buying or management decisions, can discuss and assess AI benefits from a level and well-informed playing field.
Joe Levy, chief technology officer, Sophos, said “With SophosAI’s new initiative to open its research, we can help influence how AI is positioned and discussed in cybersecurity moving forward.
“Today’s cacophony of opaque or guarded claims about the capabilities or efficacy of AI in solutions makes it difficult to impossible for buyers to understand or validate these claims.
“This leads to buyer skepticism, creating headwinds to future progress at the very moment we’re starting to see great breakthroughs.
“Correcting this through external mechanisms like standards or regulation won’t happen quickly enough. Instead, it requires a grassroots effort and self-policing within our community to produce a set of practices and language that will advance the industry in a disruptive, open and transparent manner.”
It is difficult to overstate the criticality of this shift given the immense potential of how AI can benefit cybersecurity. Sophos evidence shows that defenders are increasingly facing human adversaries who are constantly upping their game, launching highly contextualized Business Email Compromise (BEC) forgery campaigns or relentlessly developing new ransomware attacks.
Scalable and effective defenses against these and most other types of cyberattacks require assistance from AI. Openness and peer review among those applying AI to address these security threats stimulate innovation and discoveries, driving the entire industry forward.
Sophos is providing datasets, tools and methodologies in four important areas:
SOREL-20M Dataset for Accelerating Malware Detection Research
SOREL-20M, a joint project between SophosAI and ReversingLabs, is a production-scale dataset containing metadata, labels and features for 20 million Windows Portable Executable files (PE).
It includes 10 million disarmed malware samples available for download for the purpose of research on feature extraction to accelerate industry-wide improvements in security.
This dataset is the first production scale malware research dataset available to the general public, with a curated and labelled set of samples and security-relevant metadata.
AI-powered Impersonation Protection Method
SophosAI’s Impersonation Protection is designed to protect against email spearphishing attacks, where influential people are impersonated to trick recipients into taking some harmful action for the benefit of the attacker.
This new protection compares the display name of inbound emails against high level executive titles – those most likely to be spoofed in a spearphishing attack, such as a CEO, CFO or president – that are unique to specific organizations and flags these messages when they appear suspicious.
Sophos has trained the AI working behind the scenes on a large sample set of millions of known attack emails. SophosAI has opened up this innovative new protection method, which it has also discussed publicly at Defcon 28 and in an Arxiv paper.
Digital Epidemiology to Determine Undetected Malware
SophosAI has also built a set of epidemiology-inspired statistical models for estimating the prevalence of malware infections in total, which enables Sophos to estimate – and in turn enabling a better chance to find – the needles in a PE file haystack.
SophosAI has pioneered and made publicly available this method that helps to determine malicious “dark matter,” malware that might be missed or wrongly classified, and “future malware” that is in development by attackers.
The model is designed to be extensible to other classes of files and information system artifacts and is also discussed in the Sophos 2021 Threat Report.
YaraML Automatic Signature Generation Tools
Signature generation for the detection of malware families is a laborious, manual process. Over the years, researchers have proposed a variety of automatic signature generation methods, most of which have not found adoption because they underperform manual methods.
SophosAI has developed a new method for automatic signature generation, called YaraML, that’s significantly different from previous options by taking an AI based approach to the problem. SophosAI directly “compiles” full-fledged, industrial strength machine learning models, the kinds used in commercial security products, into signature languages, essentially allowing AI to “write” the signatures.
This proves to be far more effective than previous approaches and represents a breakthrough for the security community. SophosAI has open-sourced YaraML.
These four advancements are the latest from SophosAI, which works creatively like a start-up incubator, but with the intellectual resources of a near billion-dollar global company, including SophosLabs, Sophos Managed Threat Response and hundreds of thousands of customers.
Another advantage is that SophosAI can add new technology directly into shipping products. This model allows Sophos to react quickly to market needs, predict where the industry must head and advance openness for greater cybersecurity industry collaboration and innovation, all of which is essential when developing defenses against fast-moving adversaries.
In order to achieve greater cohesion amongst its Development Institutes and also sustain their proper alignment with the goals and vision of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, NASENI, the Agency is holding a two-day strategic retreat for Overseeing Officers who are managing the institutes.
Participants at the retreat also include Project Managers, Coordinating Directors and some Directors from NASENI headquarters.
The event, held in Abuja, is expected to strengthen leadership skills to achieve strategic alignment of the various Development Institutes’ goals with the overarching vision of NASENI, ensure collaborative synergies with the headquarters to streamline efforts, maximize resource utilization and enhance decision making capabilities.
It will also shift the focus of research and development (R&D) efforts towards solutions that are market-ready, innovative and capable of generating sustainable economic values.
In his welcome address at the opening ceremony, the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NASENI, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, stated that the retreat was not merely about planning, but about creating the blueprint for action, adding that each of the participants hold a unique and pivotal role in translating the vision of NASENI into reality.
“The conversations, strategies, and commitments forged here will determine how effectively we position NASENI to lead Nigeria into a future defined by innovation, self-reliance, and technological advancement, instill a shared commitment to excellence by adopting global best practices in innovation management”, he stressed.
He pointed out that recent assessments have shed light on the need for greater cohesion between the goals of the Development Institutes and NASENI’s renewed vision, highlighting that the retreat was a critical step in the Agency’s transformative journey-a journey anchored in the guiding principles of Creation, Collaboration, and Commercialization (3Cs).
He added that the principles encapsulate the essence of what NASENI stands for: creating cutting-edge solutions that are commercially viable and impacting directly on the lives of Nigerians who sit at the core of the renewed hope agenda of the President.
“Today, we gather not just to deliberate but to lay the groundwork for a stronger, more unified NASENI-one that is poised to drive Nigeria’s technological aspirations to unprecedented heights.
“As an institution saddled with the responsibility of indigenous technology advancement, NASENI has always been a beacon of innovation, a catalyst for progress, and a key driver of sector-specific solutions.
“Across our specialized Development Institutes, I see clearly that remarkable work has been done to push the frontiers of research, foster innovation, and develop solutions that address national and industrial challenges.
“Yet, we recognize that to stay true to our mission in this rapidly evolving world, we must continuously adapt, align, and refocus our efforts”, he affirmed.
The EVC/CEO, therefore urged the top management staff to engage fully, think boldly, and collaborate purposefully. “This is our moment to redefine our collective impact and to reaffirm our dedication to a vision that transcends individual institutes to unite us under the banner of progress for our nation.
“Together, we can and will achieve extraordinary outcomes. Let us move forward with clarity, resolve, and to demonstrate an unyielding commitment to excellence that defines NASENI,” he concluded.
IHS Nigeria, part of the IHS Holding Limited (“IHS Towers”) group, one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world by tower count has announced a strategic partnership with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) and the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy (FMACCE) to support the digitization of Nigeria’s cultural heritage.
This collaboration aims to make Nigeria’s historical artifacts, artworks, and cultural monuments more accessible to the public through a digital museum.
The partnership between IHS Nigeria, NCMM, and FMACCE will leverage technologies to digitalize and display artifacts online, helping to preserve and showcase Nigeria’s cultural heritage. It marks a significant step towards modernizing the preservation and dissemination of Nigeria’s cultural assets, making them more accessible to a broader audience.
The digital museum is the first significant project under the Honorable Minister’s Digital Culture Initiative and is designed to provide a platform for the exploration and appreciation of Nigeria’s diverse cultural heritage. This partnership underscores IHS Nigeria’s commitment to sustainability and its role in helping foster cultural preservation and digital education.
Mohamad Darwish, CEO, IHS Nigeria, commented, “We are excited to partner with the National Council for Museums and Monuments and the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy on this groundbreaking initiative. As a company deeply rooted in Nigeria, we recognize the importance of preserving, protecting, and promoting our cultural heritage.
“This partnership also aligns with our commitment to sustainability, education, economic growth, and community development. We look forward to contributing to the preservation of Nigeria’s cultural legacy”.
Hannatu Musawa, Nigeria’s Minister of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy, commented, “We are delighted to partner with IHS Nigeria on this initiative which aligns with His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, and our Ministry’s 8-point plan on fostering strategic partnerships.
“I am particularly pleased that this initiative, which is the first significant project under our Digital Culture Initiative, embodies our commitment to innovation, global partnerships, and the sustainable growth of our creative industries, positioning Nigeria as a leader on the global stage.”
Olugbile Holloway, Director General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, commented, “We are grateful to IHS Nigeria for their support in this remarkable initiative.
“We believe that to keep ahead of current trends and appeal to a younger demographic, it is imperative that a digital experience of our rich cultural heritage is created and made available to the public.
“The digital museum will serve as an invaluable resource for researchers, students, and the general public, both in Nigeria and around the world, and will play a crucial role in the preservation of our national heritage.”
In a significant escalation of its antitrust battle against Google, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday, November 20, urged a federal judge to break up the tech giant by ordering the sale of its widely used Chrome browser.
The DOJ also called for an end to Google’s agreements to be the default search engine on smartphones and proposed measures to prevent it from leveraging its Android operating system to dominate the market.
The DOJ suggested that if these remedies fail, Google should be compelled to divest Android entirely. The proposals mark one of the most aggressive antitrust moves against a major tech company in decades, with regulators seeking to curtail Google’s alleged abuse of its market power.
Google’s president of global affairs, Kent Walker, criticized the filing, accusing the DOJ of pursuing a “radical interventionist agenda.” Walker warned that the proposed breakup would disrupt Google’s product ecosystem, harm innovation in artificial intelligence, and threaten America’s global technological leadership.
This case represents a historic shift in the US government’s approach to regulating tech companies, following decades of relative inaction since the failed attempt to break up Microsoft in the early 2000s.
Google is set to respond in a filing next month, with a hearing scheduled for April before Judge Amit Mehta. The judge’s August ruling declared Google a monopoly, setting the stage for this next phase of the legal battle. Any decision is likely to be appealed, potentially taking years to resolve and possibly reaching the US Supreme Court.
The case’s future could also hinge on political changes, as President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration may take a different approach to antitrust enforcement. Trump has previously criticized Google for alleged bias against conservatives but has also expressed skepticism about breaking up major tech companies.
The DOJ’s proposals come amid broader efforts to address the dominance of big tech, with five antitrust cases currently pending against Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Google. These cases, brought under the Biden administration, are expected to shape the regulatory landscape for years to come.
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