Artificial intelligence is fuelling new cybersecurity race, say experts Toronto Star

David Decary-Hetu, assistant professor of criminology at the University of Montreal, says defenders have an edge right now in using artificial intelligence. "But who knows what's going to happen in a few years from now," he said in an interview. "The main issue is that if you're defending a system you have to be good 100 per cent of the time, but when you're attacking the system you only have to be successful once to get in." Decary-Hetu said a growing list of corporate and government officials who say infiltrations are their top worry, including Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz, have a very good reason to fear. The Bank of Canada warned in its semi-annual review released this month that the high degree of interconnectedness among Canadian financial institutions means any successful cyberattack could spread widely throughout the financial system.