The director of the National Security Agency said at a recent dinner event with the Intelligence and National Security Alliance that his agency now possesses an artificial intelligence-powered autonomous penetration testing tool meant for use by vendors supporting the intelligence community, Defense One reported Monday.
According to U.S. Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, the APT tool will work to help vendors in automating the process of evaluating the robustness of their cyber defenses.
The tool will make it possible for users “to more quickly broaden penetration tests of their internal assets, identify issues, implement mitigations, and confirm effective closure of any identifiable vulnerabilities,” said Haugh, who also leads the U.S. Cyber Command.
The 2024 Wash100 awardee went on to say that the same tool will also work to help traditional penetration testing capabilities in learning new threats, adding that AI-powered penetration testing is seen as an efficient way of addressing vulnerabilities and minimizing the extent to which a vendor’s systems are left exposed.
The APT tool will be made available via NSA’s Cybersecurity Collaboration Center.