AI, Cybersecurity, and the Power of Networks

Neil Daswani BS’96, Columbia Engineering alumnus and co-academic director of Stanford’s Advanced Cybersecurity Program, kicked off the year’s first Innovation Forum with a talk on AI and cybersecurity.

Held Sept. 25 by Columbia Engineering Entrepreneurship at Carleton Commons, the forum,  a monthly event, provides students and faculty with opportunities to explore emerging topics, network, form startup teams, and discover resources that support their entrepreneurial goals.

In addition to sharing stories about his time at Columbia, Daswani discussed with participants how AI is shaping the world of cybersecurity. 

“Neil’s journey from meeting his classmate Gary Makhija in Carleton Commons 30 years ago to his inspiring presentation in the same room this month brings his remarkable story full circle,” said Hugh Thomas, the associate director for Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship.  “He returned to share his life lessons with the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs from Columbia Engineering, who benefited from hearing about Neil's career in innovation and technology. Columbia Engineering’s Entrepreneurship program is proud of our alumni who bring lessons from industry to share with our students each semester.”

Designing systems for when things go wrong

Daswani credits his success to a lifetime of preparation. As the son of immigrant parents, his lessons in persistence, determination, and “being paranoid enough to prepare at every turn” became traits that served him well as a Columbia student, and throughout a career built on anticipating the worst.

After completing his PhD at Stanford, Daswani began his cybersecurity career at Google, where he identified and created defenses against click fraud. This work led to the development of his first company, Dasient, a Google Ventures-backed cybersecurity startup. Dasient was acquired by Twitter (now X) in 2012, and the former Dasient team developed a threat intelligence system that identified tweets containing malicious phishing and malware links. ”These experiences taught me that cybersecurity is not just about technology,” said Daswani at Innovation Forum. ”It's about understanding the behavior, business risks, and broader implications that occur when systems fail.”

Cybersecurity and AI research are needed now more than ever, given the surge in popularity of ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools. “As more and more dependence occurs with AI models in society, there are going to be attackers of all kinds that are going to try to manipulate AI,” Daswani said. “The ability to think about how to make AI systems safe, trustworthy, and secure is super critical.”

Entrepreneurship in the realm of AI safety can close the gaps that are being opened by this new technology: “Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has said that he believes we should be overfunding AI safety as a society, as long as it doesn't come at the cost of stopping progress.”

Fostering connections

To close the forum, Daswani encouraged students to draw on the strength of their peers and alumni networks throughout their entrepreneurial journey. He advised, “Perhaps some of the people that you interact with here at Columbia will be confidants in your path in life.” 

For Daswani, “paying it forward” is more than just speaking with students – it also includes creating new opportunities for them. With his former classmate, Gaurav "Gary" Makhija, he is establishing the Daswani and Makhija Scholarship Fund to support an undergraduate student in computer science during their time at Columbia. Inspired by their own experiences, the pair wanted to give back and help the next generation of engineers. 

Daswani hopes this motivates fellow alumni to help current and future students thrive. “As a Columbia alum, one of the things that I've experienced is a lot of support from other alums who have helped me make an impact in the world after completing my undergraduate degree,” he said. “One of the reasons that it's really important for the alumni community to come together is to help the current generation of students create all kinds of impact that they may not be able to do without our support.” 

Lead Photo Caption: Neil Daswani BS'96 speaks at Innovation Forum

Lead Photo Credit: Sirin Samman/Columbia Engineering