AI and the Cybersecurity Future of Trains: A Conversation with Cylus Co-Founder and CTO Miki Shifman

AI and the Cybersecurity Future of Trains: A Conversation with Cylus Co-Founder and CTO Miki Shifman

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping cybersecurity—not just for digital threats but also for critical physical infrastructure like railways. My conversation with Miki Shifman, Co-Founder and CTO of Cylus, underscored the urgent need to extend cybersecurity beyond traditional digital domains to protect transportation systems.


Railway Cybersecurity: A Growing Concern
Shifman, a cybersecurity expert and Israeli intelligence veteran, co-founded Cylus in 2017 to address vulnerabilities in railway systems. Historically, rail safety focused on mechanical redundancy and human oversight. But modern trains—autonomous, high-speed, and digitally connected—face unprecedented cyber risks. As Shifman put it, “The boundaries have been broken.”


Recent incidents highlight the severity. London’s railway shutdown last September exposed the economic and societal disruptions cyberattacks can cause. A similar event in New York’s subway system would ripple far beyond transportation, affecting healthcare and public safety.


Emerging Threats and AI’s Role
Railway cyber threats fall into two categories: availability threats that halt train operations and safety threats that could lead to collisions or derailments. Many railway systems lack adequate encryption and authentication, making vulnerabilities deeply embedded. AI accelerates these risks—lowering the expertise needed to execute sophisticated attacks. Tools like ChatGPT enable less-experienced hackers to gain insights into specialized rail protocols, expanding the pool of potential attackers.


Regulatory Response and AI-Powered Defense
With railways classified as critical infrastructure, regulatory bodies in the EU and U.S. are mandating stronger cybersecurity measures by 2025. However, these solutions must integrate carefully to avoid interfering with operational safety.

AI also strengthens defenses. Cylus uses AI to enhance threat detection, real-time monitoring, and anomaly detection while reducing false positives. AI boosts productivity across railway cybersecurity, from rapid prototyping to regulatory compliance automation. “AI helps turn compliance from a burden into an asset,” Shifman noted.


The Future of Railway Cybersecurity
Rail cybersecurity lags behind other critical infrastructure sectors, but AI provides an opportunity to leap forward. Organizations embracing AI-driven security will gain unprecedented protection—while those slow to adapt remain vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated threats.


When asked about AI’s future in rail security, Shifman admitted, “We’re still evolving our understanding. But ignoring AI simply isn’t an option. This technology changes the landscape weekly.” That mindset—alert, adaptable, and proactive—is exactly what the railway industry needs today.

Avsnitt(1160)

Ep918: Jason LaBaw | CEO, Bonsai Media Group

Ep918: Jason LaBaw | CEO, Bonsai Media Group

Jason is the Founder of Social Bee an augmented reality "meta" company focused on enhancing in-person experiences for brands and travel. Also CEO of Bonsai Media a 13yr old digital agency.

19 Sep 202218min

Ep917: Taranjeet Singh Bhamra | Founder and Chief Executive Officer, AGNEXT

Ep917: Taranjeet Singh Bhamra | Founder and Chief Executive Officer, AGNEXT

Taranjeet Singh Bhamra is the CEO and Founder of AgNext Technologies,  a global award-winning venture-capital-backed company that is solving for trust and transparency in global value chains using AI-based solutions to enable quality-based assessments. A graduate of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta, Mr. Bhamra is an accomplished professional and business leader, having worked for more than 20 years in Strategy consulting, investment banking,  and high-impact entrepreneurial roles in Indian and international markets.

19 Sep 202222min

Ep916: Daniel Green | Co-Founder and CTO, Faye

Ep916: Daniel Green | Co-Founder and CTO, Faye

Daniel Green is Co-Founder & CTO of Faye, the #1 disruptor setting a new standard in travel insurance coverage and care. This is the second startup he has founded with Faye Co-Founder & CEO, Elad Schaffer. Both previously co-founded Wikistrat, the world’s first crowdsourced consultancy platform. There Daniel developed the company’s core technologies including a real-time collaboration platform, gamification incentification systems and its flagship data model for predicting disruptions to countries and economies. As a developer with 20 years of experience and a deep passion for travel, Daniel enjoys applying his specialization in real-time applications to Faye’s core mission of forever elevating the way consumers travel

15 Sep 202222min

Ep915: Erez Berkner | CEO and Co-Founder, Lumigo

Ep915: Erez Berkner | CEO and Co-Founder, Lumigo

Erez Berkner, a developer by heart, is the CEO & co-founder of Lumigo, a modern observability platform for the modern cloud. He attended the Open University of Israel obtaining a degree in computer science and mathematics with honors. He worked at Check Point Software Technologies for more than a decade and was the director of cloud-based security products before starting Lumigo.

14 Sep 202221min

Ep914: Sagi Rodin | CEO and Co-Founder, Frontegg

Ep914: Sagi Rodin | CEO and Co-Founder, Frontegg

Sagi Rodin is the CEO and Co-Founder of Frontegg. Over the last 15 years, Sagi held senior product and software development positions leading engineering and product teams and engaged with ad hoc projects of building customer-facing software applications and transforming concepts into viable products.

13 Sep 202222min

Ep913: Ohad Shaked | Co-Founder & CEO, ThinkUp Founder, Thinkz

Ep913: Ohad Shaked | Co-Founder & CEO, ThinkUp Founder, Thinkz

Ohad is an entrepreneur, currently running ThinkUp – a digital platform to support, enhance and accelerate other founders' journeys. Ohad Also founded Thinkz – a network for IoT devices. He ran his family office for the past 15 years, building on the success of his late father at 888.com.

12 Sep 202222min

Ep912: Ami Moyal | President, Afeka Tel-Aviv Academic College of Engineering

Ep912: Ami Moyal | President, Afeka Tel-Aviv Academic College of Engineering

Prof. Ami Moyal has been President of Afeka Tel-Aviv Academic College of Engineering since 2014. Before joining Afeka, Prof. Moyal was active in the speech processing hi-tech industry for 15 years, and held positions as VP Technology Dev., VP Business Dev. and CEO of NSC, Natural Speech Communication Ltd.

11 Sep 202222min

Ep911: Yotam Azriel | CTO & Co-Founder, TensorLeap

Ep911: Yotam Azriel | CTO & Co-Founder, TensorLeap

Yotam is an expert in machine and deep learning, with 10 years of experience in these fields. He’s been involved in massive military projects in the field of underground warfare and later on joined Soreq Nuclear Research Center as a key developer in machine learning projects. Following his army service, Yotam developed and led AI and Big-Data projects from research to production for a few startups and acted as a professional consultant to companies developing AI technologies. His expertise includes image and video recognition, NLP, Algo-trading and signal analysis. Yotam is an autodidact with strong leadership qualities and great communication skills.

10 Sep 202222min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

framgangspodden
varvet
badfluence
uppgang-och-fall
svd-ledarredaktionen
rss-borsens-finest
avanzapodden
lastbilspodden
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
rikatillsammans-om-privatekonomi-rikedom-i-livet
affarsvarlden
rss-dagen-med-di
fill-or-kill
borsmorgon
tabberaset
kapitalet-en-podd-om-ekonomi
dynastin
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
borslunch-2
market-makers