New day. New threat. New technology to combat said threat. Sound familiar? The threat landscape is continually evolving and getting more sophisticated, and, in an attempt to keep up, many organizations are quick to adopt the latest buzz-worthy product. This is a recipe for disaster.

On December 10th, 2021, the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) published the CVE-2021-44228 documenting a vulnerability in the Apache log4j library Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) lookup feature allowing for remote code execution by an attacker who is able to manipulate log messages. A proof of concept was released on December 9th, 2021, and active scanning and exploitation attempts have increased through the time of the publishing of this brief.

While we are a long way from implementing Skynet, using machine learning combined with automation to make real-time decisions is here. In a recent talk at Sumo Logic Illuminate, Dave Frampton, General Manager of Cloud SIEM and Security Analytics, discusses the future of security with Vijaya Kaza, Head of Engineering and Data Science for Trust & Safety and Chief Security Officer at Airbnb. Kaza describes how automation, machine learning and AI can strengthen a company's overall security posture.