JAKARTA The technology giant from the United States, Microsoft, offers a free cybersecurity program to governments in Europe. The move was announced on Wednesday, June 4 as part of an effort to strengthen defense against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, including those upgraded with artificial intelligence (AI).
The program was launched following a surge in cyberattacks in the European region, many of which were allegedly carried out by state-sponsored actors from China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Through this program, Microsoft is working to increase intelligence sharing related to AI-based threats, as well as help prevent and counter cyberattacks.
"If we can bring more things we have developed in the United States to Europe, then it will strengthen cybersecurity protection for more European institutions," Microsoft President Brad Smith said in an exclusive interview with Reuters.
Smith added that there are still some additional initiatives that Microsoft will announce later this month as part of the company's global security strategy.
In recent years, cyberattackers have increasingly capitalized on generative artificial intelligence to scale up and impact their attacks from disruption to vital infrastructure to disinformation deployment.
Although AI has been used by evil parties, Smith insists that the technology can also be used for defense. "We haven't found an AI that can evade our ability to detect its use or threats more widely," Smith said in a Microsoft blog post.
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"Our goal is to ensure AI develops faster as a defense tool than as an offensive weapon," he added.
Microsoft claims they closely monitor any malicious use of the AI models they develop, as well as prevent cybercriminals who have been identified from using their AI products.
Several concrete examples of AI abuse include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's deepfake video, which appears to have surrendered to Russian demands in 2022, as well as fake audio recordings affecting Slovakia's 2023 elections.
Brad Smith also mentioned that until now, audio manipulation is still easier to do than videos.
With this offer of a free cybersecurity program, Microsoft hopes to become a strategic partner in strengthening the digital resilience of government institutions in Europe amid a increasingly complex and state-of-the-art cyber threat landscape.
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