Cybersecurity Expert Calls for 'Unhackable' Systems to Counter AI Attacks

Singapore, Apr 24 (PTI) A future where devices are immune to cybercrime by default and design may be closer than it seems, according to cybersecurity pioneer Eugene Kaspersky, who warned that today's cyber threats, supercharged by artificial intelligence, are evolving faster than most defenses can keep up.

Kaspersky painted a stark picture of the digital battlefield, where cybercriminals are not only leveraging AI to automate attacks but are also outpacing defenders through unprecedented collaboration and agility.

"AI is in the hands of the bad guys. And the reality is that they use it more and more," he said, noting that deepfakes and AI-powered social engineering are now so advanced that "if someone calls you, don't trust anyone. Even if yourself calls yourself, don't trust."

But Kaspersky, founder of the global cybersecurity firm that bears his name, argued that the answer is not simply to add more security tools or invest endlessly in digital defenses.

Instead, he called for a fundamental rethink: making systems "cyber immune" by design.

"We need to redesign the systems. We need to make them not just secure, we need to make them immune," he emphasised.

He showcased a prototype device with a radically limited architecture, capable of calling, messaging, and little else, designed to be "unhackable." While not yet ready for mass-market smartphones, Kaspersky said the architecture is already viable for industrial systems and critical infrastructure.

Speaking at GITEX Asia 2025 here, he detailed how both cyber criminals and defenders are racing to harness AI.

"AI is in the hands of security experts. It's in our products, in our services. In my company, we have AI in at least six different projects," Kaspersky said, stressing that the technology offers hope as well as peril.

Still, Kaspersky warned that current industry approaches, focused on patching vulnerabilities and responding to incidents, are a "dead-end strategy."

True cyber immunity, he explained, requires a new architecture where every application's permissions are tightly prescribed, drastically limiting the attack surface.

He also highlighted the need for greater education, stronger public-private partnerships, and a shift in mindset.

"The cyber world is getting more and more aggressive. Every day they collect up to half a million new unique malware, which is different, which we have never seen before. Every day on the internet they plant about half a million of the new unique malicious code. Cybercrime is a global problem," Kaspersky said.

Despite the daunting scale of the threat, he sounded a note of cautious optimism: "All that is bad news. But if we have good news, we will survive. We are working on that.