The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Cyber Security: A New Era for Security

Artificial intelligence (AI) has always been a hot topic in cyber security, and for a good reason. AI is a computer technology that mimics human intelligence, enabling machines to perform tasks requiring understanding or judgment independently. Cybersecurity is a growing concern, with new threats emerging every day and hackers finding new ways to steal or destroy information. AI has the potential to help organizations detect bot-based cyber attacks more efficiently and also help them identify malicious content that would otherwise go undetected. 

Understanding how Cyber Security resonates with AI 

Cybercriminals have become smarter, and as the pressure to match up with cybercriminals increases, companies are finding innovative ways to tackle them. Nowadays, Artificial Intelligence is widely used in cyber security to develop efficient systems for predicting threats and detecting vulnerabilities.  

The role of Artificial Intelligence in cyber security is to make the process of identifying threats and protecting against them more efficient. AI is so important because it allows organizations to quickly identify patterns and anomalies that could be indicative of a threat. This makes it possible for organizations to respond quickly, which can reduce the likelihood of a cyber attack succeeding or becoming more damaging. For example, if an organization has identified a pattern of malware being used by hackers on their network, they can begin preemptively blocking those attacks before they become successful. 

What Will Be The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Cyber security? 

The future of Artificial intelligence in cyber security is not too far away. As AI becomes more prevalent in the workplace, it will become a crucial part of the security industry. 

There are many ways AI can be used to help with cyber security. One of these is by using AI to help identify and eliminate vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by hackers. Another way is by using AI to automate tasks that would otherwise have to be done manually, such as scanning networks for malicious traffic. 

Practical applications of AI in Cyber Security 

Artificial Intelligence has the ability to analyze, observe and identify abnormalities within a network, making it quite helpful in the proactive space of cyber security. Let us have a look at some examples of how AI in cyber security will speed up the identification, detection, and response to cybersecurity threats and attacks: 

Intelligent Malware Detection and Prevention 

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence can help organizations better recognize threats, respond to them, and stay one step ahead of hackers. By merging various forms of data from anti-malware components on the host, network, and cloud, Machine Learning techniques can be utilized to enhance malware detection. 

For example, even if you are using some of the most secure VPN services to connect your remote employees to your intranet, it is very common to see Man in the Middle attacks. Another example is where your traffic might be ambushed and sent along with malware. AI-based systems will ensure that there is no packet sniffing or alteration in the traffic. The malware will automatically be detected and taken care of even if it happens. 

This does not mean that all malware attacks will be stoppable using AI. AI helps to bring the detection and prevention process and success rate to the best possible. 

Reduce the Number of False Positives 

False positives are a big problem in cybersecurity. They can occur when a system is looking for a malicious file or activity, but the activity isn’t actually malicious. False positives are frustrating because they waste time and resources and can even lead to security breaches. 

The use of Artificial Intelligence allows organizations to reduce the number of false positives by analyzing large amounts of information quickly and effectively without having to process each piece separately manually. For example, if you’re looking for malware on your computer, an AI tool might be able to spot patterns in your network traffic that indicate something is amiss. 

Predictive Analysis 

Building predictive models with big data analytics has helped the cyber security industry warn businesses about potential points of entry for cyberattacks. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are key components in the creation of such algorithms. Analytics-based solutions provide better and more accurate forecasts. This gives sufficient time for the cybersecurity experts working in an organization to prepare for its mitigation. 

Detecting Bots 

We are all familiar with the term “bot” and its use in everyday life. But what does that mean exactly? A bot is a software program that can perform tasks on a computer network. They are used for various purposes, such as web scraping, sending automated email messages, and so on. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been used by cybersecurity experts to detect bots in their networks. The main advantage of using AI for cyber security is that it can identify suspicious behavior patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed by traditional means of security, such as an intrusion detection system or firewall ruleset. 

Advantages of using AI in Cyber security 

Using AI in cybersecurity brings a lot of benefits to the table, some of them are as under: 

• AI learns over time 

AI uses ML and deep learning to recognize patterns and cluster them over time. These patterns help in securing security in the future. Since AI is always learning, it makes it very difficult for hackers to beat their intelligence. 

• AI can handle a lot of data

A company’s network handles terabytes of data in a day. Protecting it from malicious people and software is not easy to do manually. AI provides the best solution to skim through massive data and incoming traffic chunks. 

• Improved detection and response times 

Detecting a threat timely always saves you from irreversible damage to your network. AI ensures quick and effective scanning and response to any possible threats. 

• Better overall security 

Combining all these advantages and possible applications in our daily life shows how effective the use of AI in cybersecurity will be. It will save time, and money and, above all, protect your networks from human errors.  

Disadvantages of using AI in Cybersecurity 

Using AI in cybersecurity can help organizations detect and prevent such attacks, but it also comes with certain disadvantages.

AI-based systems are not perfect and may not be able to keep up with new threats as quickly as human experts can. Additionally, AI systems require a large amount of data to learn from, which can be difficult for organizations to provide. What’s more, AI-based solutions can be expensive to implement and maintain, making them out of reach for many organizations. Furthermore, you must acquire datasets to train your AI model, which is time and money intensive and requires a substantial investment that most cannot afford. Without huge volumes of data, AI systems might render incorrect results, damaging the organization. 

These are just some of the potential disadvantages of using AI in cybersecurity that must be taken into consideration when deploying such solutions.

Conclusion 

In today’s business world, maintaining the security of your network and data is challenging. AI can undoubtedly be a useful weapon in the fight against cybercriminals. Humans can no longer scale to sufficiently secure an enterprise-level attack surface. By implementing AI to bolster your security architecture, you can take a significant step towards becoming safer. Moreover, AI can help analyze the risk, manage incident response, and detect malware attacks before they occur. Therefore, despite any potential drawbacks, AI will advance cybersecurity and help organizations in developing robust security measures.