Cyber & IT Supervisory Forum - Additional Resources

A multilayer framework for good cybersecurity practices for AI June 2023

• Layer II (AI-specific). Cybersecurity practices needed for addressing the specificities of the AI components with a view on their life cycle, properties, threats and security controls, which would be applicable regardless of the industry sector. • Layer III (Sectoral AI). Various best practices that can be used by the sectoral stakeholders to secure their AI systems. High-risk AI systems (i.e. those that process personal data) have been identified in the AI Act and they are listed in this layer to raise the awareness of operators to adopt good cybersecurity practices.

2.1. LAYER I – CYBERSECURITY FOUNDATIONS AI systems are hosted in ICT infrastructures and in this first layer of the proposed framework, we emphasise the need to start by securing the ICT-hosted ecosystem as a whole using basic cybersecurity practices. We present the basic cybersecurity principles and procedures as described in various standards, methods and best practices that need to be applied by AI stakeholders. However, due to the dynamic, constantly evolving nature of AI systems, the cybersecurity foundations built in this layer leave some additional open issues that will be outlined and further analysed in Layer II, where additional cybersecurity practices will accompany the basic ones described in this layer.

The key elements of this layer are: • security management of the ICT infrastructure hosting AI systems; • security management; • cybersecurity certification; • cybersecurity legislation and policies that affect AI systems. Securing the ICT infrastructure hosting AI systems

ICT encompasses the infrastructure and assets that enable digital computing. All organisations rely on the secure operations of ICT for their business/digital activities, regardless of whether the ICT is hosted in-house or owned by a third party (cloud provider, supply chain business partner).

The components of any ICT infrastructure can be viewed as a scalable pyramid of six building blocks 11 :

Figure 2: AI systems are hosted in the ICT infrastructure

The first basic building block (Infrastructure) consists of all physical assets, used in the 2nd building block (Telecom) where all types of networks and telecom equipment are placed. These are necessary for the 3rd block (IT applications and technologies), which also contains assets related to AI systems. The 4th block (Domain/sectoral e/m-services) includes all digital services, while the 5th block (Data and data processes) includes all of the types of data used in the

11 Polemi, N., Port Cybersecurity – Securing critical information infrastructures and supply chains , 1st edition, Elsevier, 2017.

7