PRESENTED BY
Cyber AI Chronicle
By Simon Ganiere · 9th February 2025
Welcome back!
Project Overwatch is a cutting-edge newsletter at the intersection of cybersecurity, AI, technology, and resilience, designed to navigate the complexities of our rapidly evolving digital landscape. It delivers insightful analysis and actionable intelligence, empowering you to stay ahead in a world where staying informed is not just an option, but a necessity.
Table of Contents
What I learned this week
TL;DR
OpenAI Tasks enable AI-driven automation beyond simple notifications, integrating contextual understanding and workflow automation for cybersecurity and IT operations. They support threat intelligence, SOC operations, and attack simulations, including QA validation and TTP mapping. As the technology advances, risks like AI-powered phishing and misinformation must be mitigated with access controls, encryption, and human oversight. OpenAI Tasks mark a shift toward autonomous AI agents, with competitors like Anthropic and Google shaping the future of AI-driven security automation. » READ MORE
As much as I’m not into politics and I, for sure, don’t want this newsletter to cover politic the recent change of US administration is having an impact on cyber security. As you all know it’s a team sport so whilst those decisions are US centric they have and will continue to have an impact on the global landscape. In order to understand those decisions and assess them, nothing better than a KrebsOnSecurity blog post » READ MORE
I’ll be back with my priority matrix as I made some conceptual progress on how to do this. Yes it will most probably involved Tasks as described below but I have also discovered Firecrawl and their Extract feature seems to be really interesting. Let me know if you have already use them
The Rise of AI Task Automation
The latest release from OpenAI, Tasks, marks a significant step towards agentic AI—where models don’t just respond in real-time but proactively take action. While some may compare it to traditional notification or automation tools, Tasks integrate contextual understanding, proactive reasoning, and workflow automation, making it a powerful tool for AI-driven cybersecurity and IT operations. Additionally, OpenAI has introduced Operator, an advanced agent that extends the ability to store and retrieve user data for longer periods, potentially enhancing long-term analysis and strategic automation efforts.
What Are OpenAI Tasks?
OpenAI Tasks allow ChatGPT users (Plus, Teams, and Pro) to schedule AI-driven actions at specific times or on a recurring basis. Unlike simple notification services, Tasks enable ChatGPT to:
Analyze and summarize complex information from multiple sources.
Generate structured reports based on cybersecurity trends.
Cross-reference threat intelligence for deeper insights.
Deliver AI-driven recommendations tailored to ongoing threats.
Integrate with existing workflows via Slack, email, or APIs.
Hands-on Guide: Setting Up Tasks in ChatGPT
The easiest way to create a task is to select “GPT-4o with scheduled tasks” in the list of models. From there you can then simply write your prompt and it will be saved as a tasks.
Going under your profile you can then see all of your tasks:
From there you can edit your tasks.
Why OpenAI Tasks Extend Beyond Standard Notification Services
Unlike conventional notification tools that merely alert users about new updates, OpenAI Tasks can process, contextualize, and take action on intelligence autonomously. You really need to think about this feature as an advance feature. Tasks are not meant to be use as your Reminder app - its so much more powerful.
Feature | Standard Notification Services | OpenAI Tasks |
|---|---|---|
Contextual Understanding | Basic keyword-based results | AI-driven analysis and summaries |
Multi-Source Aggregation | Single-source alerts | Cross-references multiple sources |
Actionable Intelligence | Unfiltered data | Insights with recommended actions |
Workflow Automation | Manual integration required | Automated reports and alerts |
Use Cases for Cybersecurity & AI Practitioners
Threat Intelligence Automation
AI-generated summaries of zero-day vulnerabilities, ransomware alerts, and security breaches.
Prioritized threat reports based on CVSS scores and exploitability.
Incident Response & SOC Operations
Automated AI alerts for log monitoring and phishing detection.
Periodic malware trend analysis.
AI-driven quality assurance (QA) checks on past security tickets to identify patterns in false positives and validate remediation effectiveness.
Automated look-back reviews on previous true positive incidents to assess detection accuracy and improve alerting thresholds.
Automated AI alerts for log monitoring and phishing detection.
Periodic malware trend analysis.
Red Team & Blue Team Training
Scheduled AI-generated security quizzes.
Automated attack simulation overviews, including attack tree development, mapping tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to established frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK, and identifying security gaps through scenario-based testing. These simulations can help teams refine their defensive strategies by providing insights into attack pathways and potential system vulnerabilities.
Security Risks & Mitigation Strategies
While the current version of OpenAI Tasks provides basic scheduling and automation, the future evolution of this feature could introduce more advanced capabilities, such as deeper integration with security workflows, enhanced data retention, and automated decision-making. With this expansion, however, come potential security concerns that organizations should anticipate and mitigate. The following risks and mitigations outline considerations for the future state of AI task automation.
Potential Risks:
Attackers could misuse AI automation for persistent phishing campaigns, using scheduled tasks to craft and distribute social engineering attempts at scale.
Risk of AI-powered misinformation, where incorrect or misleading summaries influence decision-making.
Data retention concerns, especially with OpenAI’s Operator, which stores user data longer than ChatGPT, potentially increasing exposure to breaches.
Automated task manipulation, where compromised credentials allow attackers to modify scheduled workflows to execute unauthorized actions.
Mitigation Strategies:
Access Controls: Restrict task creation and modification permissions to minimize unauthorized changes.
Data Encryption & Retention Policies: Encrypt AI-generated insights and apply strict retention policies to limit unnecessary data storage.
Human Review Loops: Ensure AI-driven automation supports human oversight rather than fully replacing security decision-making.
Task Logging & Monitoring: Maintain an auditable record of all AI-scheduled actions, flagging anomalies and unauthorized changes for security teams.
User Awareness & Security Training: Educate teams on the risks of AI-automated workflows and reinforce best practices for monitoring and securing scheduled tasks.
Future of AI Agents & Scheduled Automation
OpenAI Tasks represent an early step towards fully autonomous AI agents capable of real-time decision-making in security operations. The evolution of these tools raises important questions about AI governance, reliability, and ethical implementation.
Other companies, including Anthropic, Google, and DeepSeek, are developing similar capabilities. Organizations must carefully evaluate the risks and opportunities associated with AI-driven automation as this technology advances.
SPONSORED BY
Learn AI in 5 minutes a day
What’s the secret to staying ahead of the curve in the world of AI? Information. Luckily, you can join 1,000,000+ early adopters reading The Rundown AI — the free newsletter that makes you smarter on AI with just a 5-minute read per day.
Worth a full read
The Death of the Stubborn Developer
Key Takeaways
The rise of AI and machine learning is reshaping the software industry.
The need for junior developers for small tasks is being replaced by automation.
Developers are increasingly responsible for coordination and planning tasks.
Adaptation and learning of new technologies is crucial for developers to stay relevant.
Chat-oriented programming is a key skill developers need to acquire.
Autonomous agents could potentially replace chat-oriented programming.
Coding assistants can aid in facilitating the use of chat-oriented programming.
Measuring the impact of AI in coding is a challenge that needs to be addressed.
Chop allows for parallel exploration of options, boosting productivity.
Ignoring chop can hinder a developer's productivity in the long run.
Sygnia 2025 Global Threat Report
Key Takeaway
Ransomware tactics now prioritize data theft and extortion over traditional encryption-based attacks.
Ransomware dwell time averages 1–2 weeks, creating a missed detection window before execution.
Public data leaks now impose greater pressure on victims than encryption-based ransom demands.
Trust relationships are the weakest cybersecurity link, frequently exploited in supply chain attacks.
Early ransomware detection requires better monitoring of dwell time and attack preparation activities.
AI-driven cyberattacks are increasing, with automation making phishing and impersonation highly sophisticated.
Organizations prioritize endpoint protection but often ignore virtualization platforms like ESXi and NAS.
Persistent cyber adversaries exploit minor permission gaps that escalate into full system compromise.
Data leaks cause more reputational damage than encryption, making extortion a preferred tactic.
Organizations must implement strict access controls on third-party vendor accounts.
A Tumultuous Week for US Federal Cybersecurity Efforts
Key Takeaways
Cybersecurity efforts face disruption due to political decisions.
Governance changes can significantly impact cybersecurity investigations.
The potential misuse of taxpayer dollars to support volatile industries is concerning.
Executive orders can have broad implications for security, privacy, and civil liberties.
The use of pardons for political retribution can undermine rule of law.
Politically motivated dismissals can hinder government oversight and accountability.
The politicization of AI and cryptocurrency regulation can stifle innovation.
Treat cryptocurrency as "collectibles" could have significant legal implications.
The launch of vanity memecoins by political figures raises ethical questions.
Revoking the council on Transnational Organized Crime could weaken crime fighting efforts.
Wisdom of the week
Invest
in people,
not ideas.
A good idea is often destroyed by bad people, and good people can always make a bad idea better.
Contact
Let me know if you have any feedback or any topics you want me to cover. You can ping me on LinkedIn or on Twitter/X. I’ll do my best to reply promptly!
Thanks! see you next week! Simon