How Artificial Intelligence is Changing Cybersecurity
AI now allows you to automate the detection of threat and combat even without any human involvement.
Vivek Kumar
You started your business from an idea to a full-fledged company. With success comes your clients, their data, their important credentials, your own data etc. That means you have a lot many things to secure.
Suddenly, you come to know that the hackers have attacked the system and asking for a leg and an arm as a ransom. In this scenario, you lose not just the money but, also the trust of your customers. The negative message that goes in the market put down your brand image.
You can imagine the depth of the problem by following words of Warren Buffett on cybersecurity. He says,
”Cyber attack is the biggest threat to mankind, even more of a bigger threat than the nuclear weapon.”
Unfortunately, this is not a distant probability that cannot happen to you. 1 in every 131 emails contains a malware.
Due to vulnerability, small businesses are on constant radar with 43% of the attacks being made on small enterprises.
India is the third most vulnerable country to cyber attacks.
Gone are the days when companies use to take preventive measures and the cybersecurity was handled manually. They are always prompted to use Managed Detection and Response Services (MDRS).
AI allows you to automate the detection of threat and combat even without the involvement of the humans, powering your data to stay more secure than ever. Since AI is totally machine language driven, it assures you complete error-free cybersecurity services. Moreover, companies have also started to put more resources than ever for boosting AI driven technologies.
With the advancements in AI, many companies have started to use it as a powerful weapon against the advanced cyber attacks and trespasses.
It was in early 2018 when Alphabet (Google’s parent company) put forward Chronicle to vanquish security breach (proliferating than ever). The cybersecurity intelligence program, Chronicle possesses an enormous processing power and storage together with advanced analytics. Magnifier, a behavioral analytics tool put forth by Palo Alto Networks modeled network behavior. Chronicle and Magnifier, both aimed at detecting the cyber threat by leveraging AI capabilities.
Cybersecurity professionals are keen on adopting AI-based security measures. Artificial Intelligence-embedded-cybersecurity is prominent in detecting and takes appropriate steps to combat cyber attacks. AI can efficiently handle the vulnerabilities seen in the software and it can prioritize high-risk scenarios requiring immediate attention. Implementing AI in high-risk situations means an automatic reversal of attacks.
Combatting Malware Proliferation:
Malware is growing at a rapid pace of more than 100,000 of unique pieces a day, which is humanly difficult to control. Here AI comes as a saviour. It has a promising scope of dealing with malware proliferation by eliminating the need for manually created signatures (anti-viruses) for each malware.
With AI and machine learning the bad can be differentiated from the good and we can defeat even the most alien malware attack that has never been seen before.
AI superseding human intelligence
Another challenge that can be eliminated with AI is the need for talented security-intelligence personnel who can deal with advanced cyber attacks each day.
Highly skilled hackers know how to trigger the right attacks, leaving the company’s cyber cell no clues about what happened. AI enables the security system to stay strong even against the series of attacks.
Is everything rosy with AI? Not really...
The biggest disadvantage of AI is that it is equally accessible to everyone including the hackers. Hackers are using AI to make multi-dimensional attacks in high volumes.
They are using AI to mutate the malware. They also leverage the technology to find out the most vulnerable set of people/ businesses who can be an easy target.
So, people with wrong intentions have also started gaining authority over AI, making them more powerful and skilled to cut it.
How is it going to play out in future?
More and more organisations are waking up to the need for AI in cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity spending is expected to exceed $1 trillion from 2017-21.
2018 will likely be a year of transition when most of the organisations will move to an AI-enabled security system.
Though AI is still in the developing stage, it has made our lives much easier. The point of concern here is that it can be a dangerous tool in the hands of people with wrong intentions. With time we will be able to classify it as a boon or a bane.
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Vivek Kumar

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