The Gold Eagle Has Landed

In my previous post I bemoaned the fact that there is so little pooling of cybersecurity resources.

All around the Internet we find the twin themes of "AI is the future of {pick an activity}" and "AI will destroy our economies, our minds and our freedoms."

In cybersecurity specifically these twin themes are expressed in a mind-bending mobius strip of "we all need AI to protect us from AI."

I see the lack of pooled resources as a drawback inherent in capitalism: for-profit organizations exist to generate profits and that usually means winning against competitors which does not lead to cooperative behavior.

This drawback can be mitigated by government action and today we have an example of this kind of government action in initiative which rejoices in the name "Gold Eagle."

From CNN,  White House launches AI cybersecurity clearinghouse.

The White House’s clearinghouse, dubbed Gold Eagle, is a joint project across the Treasury, the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon. AI and cybersecurity companies, along with critical infrastructure ​providers like utilities and banks, will use the platform to communicate and coordinate their efforts. 

The fact that this initiative has been announced is great news. As is so often the case, the devil will be in the (implementation) details. But having a shared context in which to assess what the AI can do either as an offensive weapon or a defensive shield would be a big step forward, just as the NIST CSF (another governmental initiative) was a big step forward.

So take heart, my fellow cybersecurity denizens: the AI era might be growing up and getting guard rails at last.