7 skills and traits of elite security engineers

Security engineers design and deploy systems to protect organizations from cyber threats, and their role is evolving due to AI. Elite security engineers need skills in using AI-powered tools (software that uses machine learning to automate security tasks), understanding AI-related threats like prompt injection (tricking an AI by hiding instructions in its input) and model poisoning (corrupting training data to make AI systems malfunction), and balancing security with business performance goals. As AI automates detection and vulnerability scanning work, security engineers are shifting from responding to incidents toward interpreting AI findings and deciding on appropriate responses.