The Cyber Defense eMagazine November Edition for 2023

adoption is more than just an IT transformation. Leaders have a lot of questions and are trying to grasp
the scope of how it can be used and what the potential drawbacks are.
Agencies in the beginning phase of AI adoption should consult cross-sector experts for counsel on where
to begin and what the pitfalls might be. This might look like bringing together policy, acquisition, oversight,
workforce, mission program owners and industry leaders to get the full picture and make the process a
little less daunting.
Seeking industry partners with established centers of excellence or advisory committees will grant
leaders unique advice and assistance in their AI journeys. Having a targeted focus and cross
communication standard is very important to bring federal agencies together to ensure the safe adoption
of AI.
The government leaders driving AI adoption are senior, well-experienced executives. They’re looking for
an actionable and implementable framework that they can move with quickly. Federal CIOs and CISOs
are eagerly awaiting a solution that allows them to responsibly deploy AI workloads for their agencies’
mission.
There are some helpful resources developed by industry experts and academics seeking to lead the way
in AI security, such as:
• The NIST AI Risk Management Framework, voluntary guidance for organizations looking to
incorporate trustworthiness into the design, development, use, and evaluation of AI products.
• The MITRE ATLAS project, helping develop security practices around AI/ML open-source projects
and collecting a database of adversary threats to better understand the threat landscape.
• OWASP’s published top 10 security considerations for large language models (LLMs) and
generative AI use cases, as well as an AI security and privacy guide.
• An IEEE program for ambassadors of AI systems, and its development of AI bias protection
systems.
Additionally, as governing bodies like Congress, the White House and OMB as well as agencies like DHS
and NIST are working on developing standards, safe and secure AI adoption can be accelerated by
extending and leveraging existing governance models including FISMA and FedRAMP ATOs (Authority
to Operate) by creating overlays for AI. Agencies can look to industry and academic resources for
guidance to ensure AI is being implemented safely, with security top of mind.
Considerations for Upcoming AI Legislation and Government Guidance
The upcoming OMB guidance and federal AI executive order will be laser-focused on enabling the safe
and secure adoption of AI. The guidance should consider directing and requiring implementation of
strong safety and security requirements that avoid burdensome and duplicative compliances. Expanding
successful cybersecurity programs such as FedRAMP for AI systems should be considered to ensure
that safe and secure AI and cloud technologies can be rapidly adopted by agencies.
Cyber Defense eMagazine – November 2023 Edition 143
Copyright © 2023, Cyber Defense Magazine. All rights reserved worldwide.