Topic: AI-Augmented Vulnerability Research: Risk, Opportunity, and Governance
Abstract: Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how vulnerabilities are discovered, analyzed, and weaponized. While much of the industry focus has been on the offensive capabilities of AI-assisted security research, organizations must also understand the implications for cyber risk management, governance, and resilience.
This session examines how AI is accelerating vulnerability research and exploit development while simultaneously creating new challenges for risk assessment, prioritization, and remediation. Drawing on real-world cyber risk management practices, attendees will learn how organizations can leverage AI to improve vulnerability management outcomes, strengthen decision-making, and establish governance frameworks that balance innovation with risk oversight.
Key Takeaways:
- Understand how AI is changing vulnerability discovery and exploit development.
- Assess the impact of AI-accelerated threats on enterprise cyber risk.
- Learn how AI can improve vulnerability prioritization and remediation decisions.
- Identify examples to incorporate AI into vulnerability management and cyber risk programs.
- Translate AI-enabled security research outcomes into measurable cyber risk reduction and resilience improvements.
Speaker:
Sebastiaan Gybels, SVP Cyber Security, Northern Trust
Bio: Sebastiaan Gybels is a cybersecurity executive with 20+ years of experience spanning Big 4 consulting, federal regulation, and C-suite leadership in financial services. He currently serves as SVP Cyber Security at Northern Trust, where he focuses on implementing automation and AI-enabled governance frameworks to further inform the cyber strategy of the global organization.
Sebastiaan also brings experience as Chief Information Security Officer, most recently in a combined CISO/CIO role at CoinFlip, where he led global security programs through cloud migrations and zero trust implementations. A commissioned Federal Reserve examiner and pioneer of the Cyber Horizontal Program, a precursor to the NIST CSF, he brings a rare combination of regulatory fluency, audit rigor, and hands-on operational execution.
He holds CISSP, CISA, CDPSE, CRISC, and CBSP certifications, is a nominated CISO of the Year (2024 to 2025), and is an active contributor to industry conferences.
