Speaker: Brad Edwards, Palo Alto Networks

Registration required due to room capacity

Abstract:
Cybercriminals are now using commercially available AI tools to augment their operations — a shift that recent incidents have made difficult to ignore. This session moves past the hype and fear to examine how agentic AI is actually being used in offensive operations today. Through live demonstrations of AI agents conducting attacks, we explore what these tools can and cannot do, the conditions under which they are effective, and what their use means for defenders. The core finding is straightforward: most AI-assisted threats are amplified versions of existing attacks rather than novel capabilities, but they are occurring at unprecedented speed and scale. Attendees will leave with a clearer model of AI-driven risk and a more grounded basis for organizational decision-making.

Speaker Bio:
Brad Edwards is a Domain Consultant at Palo Alto Networks specializing in security operations. He has 15 years of law enforcement experience as an RCMP constable, including work in digital forensics and economic crime. After leaving the RCMP, Brad worked as an enterprise software developer and subsequently led the British Columbia Lottery Corporation’s SecOps program. He researches autonomous cybersecurity operations, focusing on the street-level threats most likely to affect organizations. He also developed and maintains an enterprise cyber range platform at Palo Alto Networks used for testing offensive AI agents.