FEATURE : DATA SECURITY
Challenge
When undertaking its Smart City initiatives , the City of Las Vegas aimed to embrace innovation without compromising the security of its 650,000 residents and 42 million annual tourists . However , local governments know that Internet-connected infrastructure is often vulnerable to targeted online assaults , which continue to blur the line between digital and physical threats . Today ’ s automated malware often strikes at machine speed , rendering city officials justifiably concerned that an attack – even one that breached just a single smart device – could move laterally to encrypt or hijack its entire network in minutes .
In addition to the external attacks confronting Las Vegas ’ critical infrastructure , the city was also imperiled by insider threats to its private data and taxpayer information . Nearly three-quarters of global cybersecurity incidents are the product of either malicious or negligent employees , and with the city ’ s security team relying on legacy tools that provided no visibility into internal network traffic , it had no way to detect these threats . Indeed , due to personnel limitations , the security team was ill-equipped to counter any kind of fast-acting cyberattack in real time – before its damage was done .
Yet the greatest defensive challenge that Las Vegas faced was never-before-seen attacks , which cybercriminals now launch on a daily basis . Traditional security tools work by using fixed rules and signatures to predefine what a threat looks like , preventing them from spotting threats that look unlike anything seen before . From spear phishing emails meant to deceive the city ’ s employees by posing as trusted contacts , to novel attacks that attempt to infiltrate via the city ’ s multicloud environment , Las Vegas sought a fundamentally unique security tool capable of keeping pace with an ever-evolving threat landscape .
Solution
The city ’ s search for such an adaptive security solution led it to deploy Darktrace AI across its enterprise , cloud , and industrial networks . Powered by world-leading Artificial Intelligence , Darktrace immediately began to self-learn a unique ‘ pattern of life ’ for each Las Vegas employee and device .
Crucially , Darktrace AI does not predefine what constitutes a threat to the city ; rather , it detects the subtle behavioral anomalies associated with any attack – whether known or unknown . To fight back against automated attacks in real time , the city also deployed Darktrace Antigena , the first cyber AI response tool that autonomously neutralizes threats by taking intelligent , surgical actions .
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