Apple just dropped its third security update in three weeks, and it’s moving this fast because AI tools are now finding iPhone and Mac vulnerabilities faster than the company’s normal patch schedule can keep up with. To my friends and family, I’m a broken record. When these updates, especially security updates, are available, install them.
I do find the AI’s role in this story quite interesting. There are protected models (not released to the public) that have been provided to large tech corporations to scan their systems, software, and infrastructure for security vulnerabilities and unpatched or unknown exploits. This is a big positive. But it has many downstream implications as well.
Security engineers now have their hands full with a significant increase in vulnerabilities. Simultaneously, rogue actors are probing and prodding all types of systems with similar AI models, uncovering new openings for hacking. It’s a bit of a vicious cycle. Vulnerabilities are found, they are patched (over time), and the patched systems are then probed again, but with increasing frequency.
In the end, we do hope to get more secure systems and devices. Conversely, as LLM models get “smarter” or better trained to detect security issues, the number of issues will continue to skyrocket. Buckle your seatbelts!