How do we understand the latest AI cybersecurity news?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/06/25/newsletters/ai-cybersecurity/

Publish Date: 2026-06-25 11:19:00

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Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. So I thought maybe I could ask AI who to talk to locally to better understand the latest news about AI. What are we to make of the unusual warning from cyber experts this week that AI-powered threats could overwhelm defenses in months?Talk to Bruce Schneier, Claude suggested. He’s “the most quotable security commentator alive.”Quite the distinction. I put it to the test and emailed Schneier, a security technologist who has long been connected with Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, and whose newest book is about democracy and AI. The Cambridge resident, who The Atlantic called “a frenetic and acerbic security expert,” was clearly in a hurry when we spoke on the phone on Tuesday. Our conversation, edited for concision, clarity, and profanity — and offering one among many takes on this AI moment — was illuminating. Banners promoting Anthropic’s Claude artificial intelligence model.JASON HENRY/NYTI don’t pay much attention to AI or cybersecurity or where the two overlap. What is happening in that space?The models are getting better, they’re getting better at all things. Cybersecurity is one of the things. This is good for attack and defense. They’re good at fixing things. Firefox used [the Anthropic model] Mythos to find 270-something vulnerabilities, which have now been fixed, from now until the end of time. That’s great news! But these models separate skill from knowledge.What do you mean?It used to be that you could ask any doctor how to poison someone and they can tell you, right? You ask anybody who’s an engineer how to blow up a bridge, they can tell you. But in our world, the effort and act of getting the skill inculcates you into a certain ethic. Doctor poisoners exist, but they’re very rare. What AI does, what tech does in general, but AI in particular, is it gives someone a capability without any knowledge. Skill without knowledge. So now you can just type, how do I poison somebody, and the AI will tell you. That skill is now available to many more people, including those who have not had years of medical training, [those who haven’t taken] the Hippocratic oath. In cybersecurity, is this new?This isn’t new. A decade ago [there were new tools] that meant more people could be hackers. The ability to hack was diffused among many more people. This [AI] diffuses it further. But it also helps with defense.So is the takeaway that the status quo ante remains, just amplified?But amplified is dangerous! Let’s say the attack and defense is like some wave up and down: Attack wins, defense wins. If the amplitude is greater, there are bigger attacks. There’s more danger.Bruce Schneier video chatted with Edward Snowden in 2015.The Boston Globe/Globe FreelanceIs there more danger for the average person going about their life in Somerville or Cambridge?Probably not.Then who does the danger affect?Networks. Everybody and nobody. It’s diffuse. So it’s been pretty dangerous on the internet for the past 10 years. Has it affected you? Well, kinda, sorta, maybe, not really, I can’t tell.I was stuck in Detroit when Delta Airlines had a massive outage. You might have had Change Healthcare when they were hit by a ransomware attack and you couldn’t get your prescription for a couple weeks. You live on the East Coast, maybe you had trouble getting oil with the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack. More stuff like that happens. Totally unpredictable.How then should we regular people interpret all this?We’re moving into a world of increased volatility. But unfortunately, the average person can’t do anything about it because we live in the United States, where money makes the rules and money is ensuring there’s no regulation.We’re building AI for the near-term financial benefit of a bunch of white male tech billionaires. It’s a really dumb way to organize society, but it is the way we’ve decided. That is what we are doing. It’s not surprising regular people will be collateral damage.Polling is pretty clear that people don’t feel good about AI. It’s disempowering —It’s not the tech! It’s the economic and political system the tech is embedded in. It’s not the AI, it’s capitalism. It’s who’s running the AI. It’s: What are the rules and who gets to decide what they are?I understand the framing. Give me an example.AI-enhanced medicine. I think that’d be fantastic. We’d be able to do things normal doctors can’t. Two ways this can go. One is we give every doctor an AI assistant. And the doctor becomes more effective and because a lot of that cognitive load is being offloaded to the AI, the doctor can have a better patient manner, spend more time, be more caring, be a better doctor. We could do that, or the company who owns a medical practice could fire four doctors, give the fifth five times the patients, and everything stays the same. They make more money.Which way do you think it’s going to go?[laughter] You’re saying the technology is neutral, it’s our economic system that tilts the scale. You’re a Cambridge guy? I’ve had an apartment here since 2014. Moved here full time during the pandemic. There are a lot of techies here. Lots of very smart people working on this here. A lot of students in all fields. When I teach students, they’re worried, what should I major in? Answer: I haven’t a freaking clue.We don’t know how this is going to go.P.S. I don’t know how AI is going to go, either. In the meantime, I’m going to read a book.Thanks to all of you who wrote in last week with a recommendation for something to read between now and Labor Day! Here are some of your fellow Camberville & beyond readers’ recs for summer reads in no particular order:Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry “The character development in this book is amazing; you really get to know people and their motivations.”The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey “It’s short, meditative, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”Rental House by Weike Wang “A couple goes on two hilarious and semi-disastrous vacations that will make you thankful for whatever might befall you this summer.”Silas Marner by George Eliot “A short, approachable novel that nonetheless contains the character-building, language, and narrative complexity that make Eliot great.”The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy “Profound convos, interesting elements.”The Years of Ripening by Joyce Rupp “A gentle, nonfiction book about people in their 80s and 90s, and the graces that can come from being that old if we will look for them.”The Creatures’ Guide to Caring by Elizabeth Preston “Fascinating and funny stories of how different animal species parent and how human parenting and caring is unique.”Heart the Lover by Lily King “Heartfelt, intimate telling of right people at the wrong time.”11/22/63 by Stephen King “For anyone who thinks they don’t like Stephen King because he mostly writes horror, this book is for you!”Joshua Miller can be reached at [email protected].