Jim Goldman, Co-founder and CEO, Trava Security, Inc.
Cybersecurity is a topic that reverberates throughout every sector of business. According to a recent report by Accenture, cyberattacks could cost businesses over $5.2 trillion in the form of lost revenue and additional expenses. The entry of artificial intelligence (AI) has brought with it some solutions, but also newer threats that did not exist a while back. Let's look at the bittersweet relationship between AI and cybersecurity and what can be done about it.
What Is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence is the development and theory of computer systems that enable them to handle tasks that usually require human intelligence. Such tasks include speech recognition, visual perception, translation and decision-making. These capabilities can be enhanced positively and negatively, as explained below.
The Good
The increase in cybersecurity attacks has led to the rise of AI-based cybersecurity products that are estimated to grow to $133.8 billion by 2030. As of 2022, they were worth just above $14.9 billion. Organizations can leverage these AI tools to detect malware and other threats better and use a prediction model to anticipate future attacks so that they are prepared.
Vulnerability Management
The organization is frequently exposed to several vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, the company may not handle all vulnerabilities at the same time. It has to come up with a way to determine the most significant threats and handle them first. AI helps sort the threats and determine the order of priority.
Threat Hunting
Instead of just checking threats that have been identified before, AI helps organizations hunt for other threats that may not have been discovered before. It may use big data and other available information to determine likely issues that conventional tools may not pick up until an event happens.
Network Security
Network security checks the policies to ensure that no malicious connection applications are made and monitors the environment to ensure that there are no loopholes that may be exploited. AI enhances the monitoring of the environment and enhances policymaking, improving security.
Data Center Process Optimization
AI can also be used to optimize critical processes in the data center, such as backup power, power consumption, bandwidth usage, internal temperatures and cooling. It provides the best values to keep the infrastructure running efficiently.
The Bad
Unfortunately, even as AI does well for cybersecurity, it opens up new avenues for malicious actors and hackers to exploit and gain access to company systems in ways they would not have achieved with traditional penetration methods. We expect increased AI-based cyberattacks in the near future.
Cybercriminals may use AI to scan an organization's network for vulnerable applications, networks and devices they can target to gain access. Phishing emails made with AI have a higher chance of acceptance than other emails, increasing the risk that the company may be hit using methods that were otherwise considered low-risk.
It is also possible for hackers to reverse-engineer AI systems and get to know the data sets that were used to create the systems. They can then use the information to find ways to gain access to the systems.
Cybercriminals can also use constantly changing virus signatures to evade the static defenses you have set up, such as perimeter detection and firewalls. Besides, AI can help malware sit in the system, observing user inputs and collecting other vital data until it has all the data it needs to execute an attack. It can also be used to send data to hackers with little risk of detection.
In due course, companies will likely discover remedies for diverse threats related to AI. Nevertheless, hackers may persist in devising methods to evade the security systems put in place. Hence, utilizing AI is the ultimate approach to tackling cybersecurity issues. Companies need to be mindful that an AI-driven hacking tool could introduce more significant, perilous and elusive malware or other forms of threat.
Takeaway: AI has goodies and threats for cybersecurity. While it enhances the company's ability to deal with threats and predict them beforehand, it also increases the surface area for hackers to gain access to the network, exploit resources that are normally not accessible to them, and detect weaknesses in the company's terminals and systems better than they would have in a traditional setup.
