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AI Poses ‘Defining Security Questions of Our Time’

By Dave Raffo | March 26, 2025

“Ultimately, all of this is about awareness and preparedness too. You need both,” former U.S intelligence agent Shawnee Delaney told a room of channel partners during her keynote during Channel Partners Conference & Expo.

Delaney’s marquee keynote “Spy vs. AI: Defending against AI’s threats to your life, loved ones and livelihood” provided a deep dive into the evolving threat landscape of AI-driven deception and deepfakes. Delaney, founder and CEO of Vaillance Group, filled her keynote with examples of her experiences in clandestine operations and compared those to how criminals use AI to deceive victims.

Delaney followed her outline of dangerous AI-based threats with steps for mitigating them:

  • Adapt AI threat intelligence and monitoring
  • Control and monitor AI use in your organization
  • Harden against deepfake and AI-generated social engineering
  • Secure non-human identities and AI-generated content
  • Prepare for AI-powered disinformation and brand manipulation.

Cybersecurity expert Shawnee Delaney delivers Channel Partners Expo keynote

Delaney reminded the audience that cybersecurity is a business-wide challenge, not just an IT issue, and that companies need to stay vigilant and adapt to new threats.

“How do we defend against AI powered threats when they adapt faster than we can?” she asked. “These are not theoretical questions. These are the defining security questions of our time. AI really has reshaped the threat landscape.

Delaney has conducted human intelligence operations in four combat zones, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. She pointed out tell-tale signs of deepfakes, such as imperfection in AI-created faces around the eyes and hair, inconsistent lighting, background distortions and when a speaker’s voice is not synched with the lips. She also advised the audience to establish verification protocols such code words to confirm the identity of callers or messages.

“If you see it, if you hear it, if you read it, question it, please,” she said. “This is a human problem, so no matter how advanced AI gets, it still needs us to open the door. So keep your guard up, both at home and in the office. Take those few extra seconds to think before you click. Verification is not optional. Everyone has heard, ‘trust but verify.’ It's a very spy thing to say, right? But I want to flip it on its head, and I would like all of you to please verify and then trust.”