Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being implemented widely across various businesses and applications than ever before as data collection, storage capabilities, and computing power increase. Since cybersecurity is a key concern, many industries are seeking to implement this technology for protecting their customers effectively as they expand their perimeter.
Artificial Intelligence has been the word of mouth ever since it came into existence. Its growing popularity has led many industries to implement it in their processes. AI has proven itself to be the most efficient technology in recent times and is being used to transform multiple areas of our day to day life. The applications of AI technologies seem to have no limit. AI-powered smart assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Cortana have also become a major part of our lives.
Artificial Intelligence has been implemented in various industries like healthcare, finance, manufacturing and many more. Its new implementation is in the field of cybersecurity. As cyber attacksOpens a new window are growing in number and complexity, AI is assisting in detecting these attacks and fighting them. AI technologies like natural language processing and machine learning enable security analysts to respond to such threats immediately. Arguably, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning can redefine cybersecurityOpens a new window and have the potentiality to provide a remarkably huge advantage to the overall structure of an organization’s cybersecurity defense.
But the technology is as much as a threat as it is an advantage in the field of cybersecurity. In reality, Artificial Intelligence is also a destructive tool when fallen in wrong hands. Few instances prove that cybercriminals like hackers are succeeding in foiling the algorithms used for data security. Their target is the data that the technology is training on and the problems it is capable of weakening.
The good:
As a fact, AI is both an attacker and a defender. The technology is advantageous in multiple ways, essentially because it has the capability to learn, understand and adjust to its surroundings at the time of a threat or an attack. If utilized in the correct way, Artificial Intelligence will be able to collect data and learn from instances like threats, security breaches, attempted, failed or blocked attacks which helps it to fulfill its intention of defending and securing the data of an organization by reacting instantly to the threats. The technology is also capable of learning better ways to detect these threats and remove them. This could be greatly beneficial in taking cybersecurity Opens a new window to the next level.
Additionally, the various applicational potentialities of AI – from retail to finance and from manufacturing to environmental tracking implies that the technology is quickly expanding the modern attack surface. And while Artificial Intelligence already has the potential to be a notably beneficial safety implement and is also a way likely to increase its ability in the future. Cybersecurity intelligence can be integrated into Artificial Intelligence technology which makes it a much more powerful tool. AI can’t only begin to detect and fight the threats that it has discovered, but it can also continue to search the web for information regarding the secretive threats that exist.
The bad:
For every positive feature of Artificial Intelligence, there is an equally negative one as well. Cybercriminals and hackers are using advanced artificial intelligence to invade networks and burgle confidential information from influential companies. The technology can be framed to learn and understand the defense techniques and tools used which enables it to breach the defending algorithms and attack the sources in order to steal confidential data. Different types of viruses can be created that act as a host for this type of Artificial Intelligence which in turn generates a malware that can dodge advanced and exceptional safety implementations.
The most popular use of AI in terms of hacking is the cloud-based ransom attacks. This attack, commonly known as ransomware, is an automated approach most favored by hackers. One of the examples of this being the WannaCry Ransomware attack, where the crypto worm named WannaCry had spread swiftly across hundreds of systems running the Microsoft Windows on 12th May 2017 causing encryption of data which could not be accessed by its own users. The hackers demanded enormous amounts of ransom in Bitcoin cryptocurrency to decrypt the data. An estimation resulted that more than 200,000 systems across 150 counties have been affected by the attack causing damage ranging from millions to billion dollars.
Conclusion:
We are, however, years away from designing complex Artificial Intelligence tools for both cyber attacks or cyber defense. There are few organizations taking the initial steps to handle these new threats, while many are concentrating on protecting customers in an old fashioned way where having a security certification is an advantage. But, when it comes to implementing AI technology, both the advantages and the potential pitfalls must be considered. Whilst the adoption of this technology proceeds to expand, a robust strategy for Information Assurance is required to preserve an organization’s data.