Bell Canada and Cohere announced on 23 September that a cybersecurity large language model was running in production on Canadian-hosted Bell AI Fabric, calling it the first customer-facing solution from their strategic AI collaboration.
Key points
- Bell Cyber is integrating the model into its Autonomous Security Operations Centre.
- Bell says AI processing and sensitive security information remain in a Canadian-hosted environment.
- The model is designed to help analysts summarise evidence and follow investigative workflows.
- Bell AI Fabric plans to expand its Saskatchewan power capacity by up to 900 MW, MT Newswires reported.
Bell Cyber brings the model into its ASOC
The companies announced the deployment at the Bell Cybersecurity Summit in Toronto. Their release says Cohere’s enterprise AI technology was combined with Bell Cyber’s cybersecurity data and operational knowledge to build the model. Bell Cyber is integrating it into its Autonomous Security Operations Centre, or ASOC.
Bell Cyber says its ASOC already uses AI and automation to detect, triage and contain threats across endpoints, identities, networks and cloud environments. The new model is trained for cybersecurity work and applies Bell Cyber’s knowledge to the language and evidence used in investigations.
According to the companies, the model is designed to condense complex security information, identify context relevant to an investigation and help analysts follow consistent procedures. Bell says that should reduce the time analysts spend collecting and interpreting information, leaving them to validate threats, assess their impact and direct a response.
John Menezes, President and CEO of Bell Cyber, said the model could help analysts act faster and more consistently on alerts. Bell says analysts remain responsible for consequential decisions. The release describes the model as running in production on Bell AI Fabric while its integration into the ASOC continues.
Bell AI Fabric keeps processing in Canada
Bell says the production deployment keeps both AI processing and sensitive security information in a Canadian-hosted environment. The company says this arrangement gives Bell Cyber greater control over the model, the data it uses and the operations behind the service.
The companies are positioning the capability within Bell Cyber’s ASOC for Canadian businesses and public sector organisations. Bell Cyber is integrating the model into its ASOC.
Michael Pelosi, Cohere’s Country Manager for Canada, said the work combines Cohere’s model-customisation technology with Bell Cyber’s operational knowledge and Bell AI Fabric’s infrastructure. The companies describe the deployment as their first customer-facing solution under a wider strategic AI collaboration.
Bell AI Fabric has a separate capacity expansion planned in Saskatchewan. The platform plans to add up to 900 MW of power capacity in the province, MT Newswires reported on 14 September. Bell identifies AI Fabric as the infrastructure running the cybersecurity model.
Cohere’s model supports Bell Cyber analysts
The work assigned to the model sits early in an investigation: interpreting security information and presenting the context analysts need. Bell says its analysts then validate the threat, determine the likely impact and decide how to respond. Menezes said Canadian-hosted processing also gives Bell Cyber greater control over sensitive security information.
John Watson, Group President, Business Markets, Bell Cyber, AI Fabric and Ateko, described the deployment as the first customer-facing result of the companies’ partnership. Cohere supplies the enterprise AI technology, Bell Cyber contributes the cybersecurity data and operational expertise, and Bell AI Fabric hosts the production model in Canada.
