(Rewind) The Changing Landscape Of Security With Dev Akhawe

10/16/23 • 44 min

This week, we're rewinding to play one of our favorite episodes from the archive! We'll be back with a brand-new episode in two weeks!

Today’s guest is someone we have wanted to have on the show for a long time, and we are so happy to finally welcome him. Dev Akhawe is the Head of Security at Figma, the first state-of-the-art interface design tool that runs entirely in your browser. Before that, Dev worked at Dropbox, as Director of Security Engineering, leading application security, infrastructure security, and abuse prevention for the Dropbox products. He also holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UC Berkeley, where his thesis focused on web application security. In this episode, Dev pulls back the curtain and gives us a look at what security at Figma looks like. The relatively small organization has a culture where the security team earns their trust and works openly. This has resulted in far greater cohesion between the security team and developers. We also hear about Dev’s time at Dropbox, and how working on an application with many products exposed him to the gamut of security issues that companies can face. Along with this, we discuss some of the positive changes in how startups are thinking about security, the value of exposing people to different parts of an organization, the place of security champions, and having a curious mindset as a security professional. Dev's approach to security is empathetic, collaborative, and solution-driven, and if you would like to hear more, be sure to tune in today!

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This week, we're rewinding to play one of our favorite episodes from the archive! We'll be back with a brand-new episode in two weeks!

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Previous Episode

SAIF - Effective Risk Management And AI Security Standards With Royal Hansen

As AI adoption continues to grow, it's important that effective risk management strategies and industry security standards evolve along with it. To discuss this, we are joined by Royal Hansen, the VP of Engineering for Privacy, Safety, and Security at Google, where he drives the overall information security strategy for the company’s technical infrastructure (and keeps billions of people safe online).

Royal cut his teeth as a software developer for Sapient before building a cyber-security practice in the financial services industry at @stake, American Express, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. In this episode, he explains why adhering to a bold and responsible framework is critical as AI capabilities are integrated into products worldwide and provides an overview of Google’s Secure AI Framework (SAIF), designed to help mitigate risks specific to AI systems. Royal unpacks each of the six core elements of SAIF, emphasizes the importance of collaboration, shares how he uses AI in his personal life, and much more.

Today’s conversation outlines a practical approach to addressing top-of-mind AI security concerns for consumers and security and risk professionals alike, so be sure to tune in!

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Next Episode

The Need For Diverse Perspectives In AI Security With Dr. Christina Liaghati

Episode Summary

In this episode, Dr. Christina Liaghati discusses incorporating diverse perspectives, early security measures, and continuous risk evaluations in AI system development. She underscores the importance of collaboration and shares resources to help tackle AI-related risks.

Show Notes

In this enlightening episode of The Secure Developer, Dr. Christina Liaghati of MITRE offers valuable insights on the necessity of integrating security considerations right from the design phase in AI system development. She underscores the fact that cybersecurity issues can’t be fixed solely at the end of the development process; rather, understanding and mitigating vulnerabilities require continual iterative discovery and investigation throughout the system's lifecycle.

Dr. Liaghati emphasizes the need for incorporating diverse perspectives into the process, specifically highlighting the value of expertise from fields like psychology and human-centered design to grasp the socio-technical issues associated with AI use fully. She sounds a cautionary note about the inherent risks when AI is applied in critical sectors like healthcare and transportation, which calls for thorough discussions about these deployments.

Additionally, she introduces listeners to MITRE's ATLAS project, a community-focused initiative that seeks to holistically address the challenges posed by AI, drawing lessons from past experiences in cybersecurity. She points out the ATLAS project as a resource for learning about adversarial machine learning, particularly useful for those coming from a traditional cybersecurity environment or the traditional AI side.

Importantly, she talks about the potential of AI technology as a tool to improve day-to-day activities, exemplified by email management. These discussions underscore the importance of knowledgeable and informed debates about integrating AI into various aspects of our society and industries. The episode serves as a useful guide for anyone venturing into the world of AI security, offering a balanced perspective on the potential challenges and opportunities involved.

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