"Cybersecurity Challenges and what does AI bring to the table?"
In our podcast episode #34, Lara already talked with Fabio about cybersecurity. In our new interview Fabio tells us about his thoughts on AI and cybersecurity as well as his experiences as a founder. Fabio also explains how to keep up with the incredibly fast development in the field of digitalization. - Alena Shenberg
Fabio Ugolini is the CEO & Co-Founder at Truescreen. Fabio studied law at the University of Bologna with a focus on Legal Tech, Technology Law and Cyber Security and completed a Master in Marketing and Digital Strategy. He is also founder of a software house and 3 other startups in the technology sector and a lecturer at the RCS Academy Business School.
Fabio is passionate about marketing, product and business development and together with his Co-Founder Giuseppe Travasoni, they are on the mission to promote trust in the digital age by offering an innovative service that guarantees authenticity and immutability of any media file.
Fabio, what made you start your own company?
I started studying law and I wanted to become a lawyer. But later I found out that becoming a lawyer is not my path. I then started as a technology and legal consultant in civil litigation in Italy. I began organizing events in this field for the Italian judiciary. Through this experience, I discovered my passion for marketing and decided to pursue a master's degree in the field. Following my studies, I worked as a digital product manager for several larger companies. But I was still hungry to learn more about digitization. So, I founded ShopFully. The company is now one of the largest digital services companies in Italy. This was such an incredible experience. It was during this time that I met my now co-founder, Giuseppe Travasoni. Three years after I founded ShopFully, Giuseppe and I decided to start TrueScreen together, as we just had a huge desire to start something new. We started as a software company and discovered an incredibly secure algorithm to preserve digital content. We patented it and realized there was a huge market waiting for it. That's how we founded TrueScreen.
That all sounds very straight forward. But there were certainly challenges in the startup process. Can you tell us about the biggest challenges you overcame when building your business?
First of all, there were administrative and bureaucratic procedures that a startup doesn't want to deal with, but has to. Especially in Italy, we have many regulations.
Another part that I underestimated is putting together a team. At the end, we have been very lucky because we now have a lot of incredible people here at TrueScreen, but building an organic team that's ready to enter into the market is generally very difficult. No matter how good you are or how many skills you have.
When you are a pioneer in your field, you always have to find new solutions. That can be challenging, but I think that it's also what makes life as a founder so appealing. You have to be very open-minded.
Hackers and criminals are getting more creative to overcome security hurdles. How do you make sure you stay on top of the latest technology and threats?
You have to create a culture that can adapt all the time. This is a key skill to have in the incredible historical time we are living: Consider that a person 60 years ago could absorb the same amount of information in a year that we receive today in a day. Humans have to keep up with this rapid technological development. This is a challenge in terms of technological structure, a team structure and a legal structure. To be legally compliant, you have to understand what the laws will be in the future, not just what they are today. That's the only way to keep up with rapid progress. That is the biggest challenge in our market.
And how have you adapted to changes in the industry, such as the rise of cloud computing and the Internet of Things?
For us, this is a great opportunity because we use cutting-edge technology that is not only developed by us. In fact, We mix many different technologies and add our security and knowledge layers. In this way, we can develop our product faster.
Also, another beneficial aspect of the growing interest in technologies like cloud computing, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence is that is forcing legislators to understand what's happening and adapt to those changes accordingly.
Basically, it represents an evolution for everybody. Our role is to facilitate this evolution by contributing our knowledge to this field and trying to connect the evolution of technology with the evolution of law.
There is a topic that everyone is talking about. What do you think about the blocking of ChatGPT in Italy?
That's a very difficult question, but an interesting one. In my opinion, it was a good thing. If we want to play in the field of AI, it's very important to understand it. And until now, we don't know what the impact of artificial intelligence is.
One example: If you have an Instagram account and Instagram changes the terms and conditions so that it starts delivering your pictures to ChatGPT to use them. Your images or face can easily be used in photo-realistic scenarios that never happened that way. We have reached a level of photorealism that we cannot understand or control, so it must be stopped if we want to keep control over our own data.
As long as you are not aware that you are selling your data, you can do whatever you want. But Italy's data protection commissioner says ChatGPT can do what it wants, but it must inform the user what data it uses and how.
However, ChatGPT has now been revived in Italy due to some modifications, making it usable once again.
What concerns do you have about the use of Ai in IT security and how do you address these concerns?
I'm quite concerned, and that’s why we created a solution like TrueScree. I think we have a huge opportunity with AI, but in some areas, we overestimate the impact, while in others, we underestimate it. I don't think we're going to lose our jobs, for example. We just need to adapt to an ever-changing world. As I pointed out earlier, talking about information consumption, what genuinely concerns me the most is our inability to discern what is true from what is fake.
A well-known philosopher of innovation once said that in ten years, young people will not try to determine whether something is true or not; they will simply receive the information without intending to verify its accuracy. It is just information. It is alarming when we have no idea whether something exists or not. That is why we developed TrueScreen, to restore trust in the information we consume. I fear a world where we lack a North Star to guide us, as each individual can create their own version of it, in a way. It's a huge opportunity for those who understand AI's potential and the endless possibilities it offers. However, we must also figure out how to use it ethically. The meaning of ethics is also so hard to define, but it's crucial that we reintroduce ethics into technology.
What are the responsibilities of companies and developers when it comes to using AI in IT security?
As a developer, you have significant responsibilities. If you use artificial intelligence to create new code, you are essentially transferring your knowledge to AI, which can then be utilized by others in some way. The role of the developer is also evolving, as more and more people become developers even without prior programming knowledge. To avoid being replaced, developers must be aware of this trend. The most crucial aspect of a developer's job is to create functioning code, prioritize security, and safeguard the company's intellectual property. While artificial intelligence has made significant strides in recent years, it is not yet advanced enough to completely replace human developers in creating new code, especially in a software house like ours. However, we are approaching a point where this may be possible in the near future.
What are the benefits of integrating AI in IT security and how has the technology been involved in recent years?
Artificial intelligence can help with cybersecurity by quickly discovering bugs and vulnerabilities. It can also learn the patterns of attackers and defenders, leading to an intense battle between good and bad AI. The bad AI will attempt to attack the good AI, while the good AI will defend the system.
There are exciting times ahead as a human who may not be able to control the system, and you're just watching a battle between AI systems over a beer.
Interviewer
This interview was conducted by Alena Shenberg. Alena has been with eLegal for almost a year. During her law studies in Berlin, she discovered her passion for legal tech and through her professional experience she specialises in legal operations and legal project management.