From The Next Web · Kolawole Samuel Adebayo · · 2m
Amazon CISO: AI cuts attack time from months to minutes
CJ Moses warns that artificial intelligence is shrinking the window between vulnerability discovery and system takeover, forcing security teams to rethink their entire approach.
In brief
CJ Moses warns that artificial intelligence is shrinking the window between vulnerability discovery and system takeover, forcing security teams to rethink their entire approach. Amazon's CISO CJ Moses says AI-powered attacks can now compromise systems in minutes instead of weeks, forcing security teams to prioritize…
Attack speed has changed everything
CJ Moses, CISO of Amazon, told Shahar Peled, CEO of Terra Security, that cyberattacks once taking weeks or months now complete in minutes.
Twelve minutes from access to takeover
Amazon's MadPot honeypot infrastructure observed an attacker move from no access to complete system takeover in twelve minutes and forty-two seconds. Historically such campaigns took weeks or months.
“In the past, this would have been a campaign by an adversary. Weeks, sometimes months, would go on forever. This was 12 minutes to just shy of 13 minutes.”
The window for response is closing
Security teams historically patched vulnerabilities over days or months. Now attackers move through reconnaissance, exploitation, and lateral movement in minutes. Speed of response is now as important as the number of vulnerabilities discovered.
Defensive layers are no longer enough
AI-enabled adversaries can connect individual weaknesses into longer attack paths. Organizations need continuous testing to determine which vulnerabilities can actually be exploited, not just defensive controls.
“The reality is if you slow down, you're actually playing into the hands of the thing we talked about in the beginning.”
Amazon integrates security into development
Amazon integrates security scans into continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines. AI-assisted scanning identifies issues as code develops while additional testing validates the finished product, addressing weaknesses without delaying delivery.
AI threats extend beyond software
North Korean operations use AI to generate personas and support fabricated identities to obtain jobs at companies. Amazon stopped at least two thousand nine hundred North Korean actors during its hiring process.
Amazon connects security across divisions
Amazon's integrated security model brings together cyber intelligence, personnel security, investigations, and other capabilities. The objective is to connect information across business units so warning signs do not remain isolated in separate organizational functions.
Measure exposure, not vulnerability counts
Moses expects the industry to shift from counting vulnerabilities to measuring time between discovery and mitigation.
“I think the measure of a good security program won't be how many vulnerabilities you found.”
The big picture
Amazon's CISO CJ Moses says AI-powered attacks can now compromise systems in minutes instead of weeks, forcing security teams to prioritize speed of response over vulnerability counts.
