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Cybercrime is on the rise in the United States and around the world. Over the past decade, cybercrime has caused over 12 billion dollars in lossesa 12-fold increase in comparison with 2015. Where businesses once feared physical threats equivalent to bank robberies, they now protect themselves against much less visible attacks.
As the world becomes increasingly dependent on digital technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to enhance cybersecurity measures for corporations of all sizes.
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity has modified dramatically over the past decade. Ten years ago, greater than one in five people cybersecurity incidents involved paper documents. This yr, that number dropped to an almost negligible 2%. Cyberattacks involving paper documents were replaced by phishing incidents, the number of which just about doubled during that point.
The rise of ransomware attacks is much more obvious. Virtually unknown in 2015, they now account for nearly one in three cyberattacks in the U.S. Meanwhile, Artificial intelligence plays a dual role in cybersecurity, because it is used by each cybercriminals and those that wish to secure data. The World Economic Forum spoke about AI arms race.
Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) around the world are using technologies like machine learning and deep learning to remain several steps ahead of their adversaries. With its fundamental ability to investigate massive amounts of data, AI allows CISOs and their teams to observe network activity and detect anomalies early. Identifying suspicious behavior or fraudulent activity early on is not only easier, but will be key to effectively stopping financial and other damage.
At the same time, the use of AI saves analysts time, allowing them to focus on more strategic activities.
Key AI Technologies in Cybersecurity
Threat detection and data protection are two pillars of effective cybersecurity, and AI can improve each.
Amazon GuardDuty is an AI-based threat detector that uses machine learning (ML) and Amazon Web Services (AWS)’s own integrated threat intelligence to guard AWS accounts and related data. The software detects suspicious activity, equivalent to AI security cleanups, and investigates them faster than human analysts. Users can even automate threat remediation.
Additionally, Amazon GuardDuty protects against ransomware transmissions and scans your computer for malware, including cryptocurrency threats.
IBM Watson for Cybersecurity is one other AI-powered threat detection powerhouse. Watson analyzes security data from a variety of sources, including security alerts and logs. By combining information collected in greater than one place, Watson can detect threats that non-AI security software may have missed. The company’s scope IBM Security® Solutions offers more tailored tools to satisfy the cybersecurity needs of today’s corporations.
Challenges and limitations
One challenge with AI in cybersecurity is the speed at which the field is evolving. Research firm Gartner predicts that 4 out of five corporations will use generative AI-enabled applications by 2026. By comparison, just a yr ago, only 5% of all corporations were using these recent technologies.
Given the pace of this process, one of the challenges cybersecurity professionals face is protecting these projects. According to IBMCurrently, lower than a quarter of generative AI projects are adequately secured, leaving three-quarters of them vulnerable to malicious attacks.
Cybersecurity teams face internal and external challenges. Externally, cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated as the volume and value of data grows. Would-be attackers not need excessive computing power to create malicious products.
At the same time, teams seeking to protect an organization’s data are grappling with internal challenges, equivalent to massive amounts of data and increasingly complex data infrastructures. They must also balance the need for user access with security concerns.
Case study
Cyberattacks are not limited to specific verticals. As corporations change into more dependent on data, so does the potential for cybercrime. Industrial Solutions Provider Andritz AG saw an increase in security breaches in 2020. With nearly 50% of its 27,000 employees accessing their networks remotely, the company needed to seek out a solution that will protect proprietary information and allow teams to proceed working.
Because customers operate power plants and chemical plants, among other applications, cybersecurity breaches can quickly change into catastrophic. The team implemented an AI-powered solution to visualise threats and quickly neutralize them, protecting its employees and customers.
Based in China United Family Healthcare (UFH) turned to AI-powered cybersecurity solutions when a combination of compliance regulations, external threats, and worker behaviors equivalent to password sharing put data at risk.
The company needed a solution that will streamline security operations in one central location, allowing a relatively small cybersecurity team to observe and detect suspicious activity across multiple locations. Once connected to the network, their AI-powered system provided an overview of the company’s security posture in minutes. The app has also had a positive impact on internal operations, with risks and alerts decreasing since its implementation 4 years ago.
Future trends
As the use of generative AI expands across sectors and society, the need for equally effective cybersecurity will increase.
While it’s still easy to view cybersecurity as something that won’t apply to small businesses, few businesses will have the opportunity to disregard cyber threats for long. Losing access to an e-commerce site or having customer data breached on social media platforms can jeopardize the future of a business.
As cyber threats evolve and expand their reach, AI-based cybersecurity must evolve to detect and neutralize them before they will do damage. In the future, we are going to likely see AI-based security elements incorporated into commonly used applications equivalent to social media content generation, scheduling tools, and more.
When it involves cybersecurity, AI has a dual role as each an antagonist and a defender. In the coming years, governments and businesses must be sure that AI-based protection, detection, and remediation outpace the growth of cyber threats and cybercrime.