Umesh Shankar, Corporate Vice President of Data, Privacy & Security Engineering at Microsoft AI, has joined Bugcrowd's Board of Advisors, bringing his extensive experience in data protection, privacy, and AI-driven security from his previous roles at Google. Shankar is enthusiastic about Bugcrowd's mission to enhance cybersecurity by proactively addressing vulnerabilities and is keen to explore the integration of AI into security strategies. He emphasizes that AI can significantly improve the efficiency of security practices by automating and optimizing existing workflows, particularly in response activities and code analysis. Shankar foresees AI transforming security operations by enabling automated issue detection, fixes, and verification processes, potentially leading to more autonomous bug finding and fixing. His engagement with Bugcrowd was inspired by conversations with Dave Gerry, Bugcrowd's CEO, highlighting the potential of democratizing access to security expertise through AI.