The applications of Artificial Intelligence in cyber security is increasing exponentially in the cyber world. However, the truth is stranger than fiction. Read on to know more about it…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a growing area of interest and investment within the cyber security community. The applications of Artificial Intelligence in cyber security is increasing exponentially in the cyber world. AI technology is used by Facebook’s facial recognition software and also by financial institutions to prevent billions of dollars in fraud annually.
Artificial Intelligence in cyber security is beneficial because it improves how security experts analyze, study, and understand cyber crime. It enhances the cyber security technologies that organizations use to combat cyber criminals and help customers safe.
Challenges
Even though there are several application, there is a hidden danger of using Artificial Intelligence in cyber security. On one hand there are several applications of AI in cyber security — on the other hand, AI can be very resource intensive. It may not be practical in all applications. More importantly, AI also can serve as a new weapon in the arsenal of cyber criminals who use the technology to hone and improve their cyber attacks.
Among the key challenges of implementing AI in cyber security is that it requires more resources and finances than traditional non-AI cyber security solutions. Partially, that’s because cyber security solutions that are built on AI frameworks and those are not cheap. As such, they have historically been prohibitively expensive for several businesses. However, there are new Security-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions that are making AI cyber security solutions more cost-effective for businesses.
Vulnerabilities
The use of Artificial Intelligence in cyber security creates new threats to digital security. Just as AI technology can be used to more accurately identify and stop cyber attacks, the AI systems also can be used by cyber criminals to launch more sophisticated cyber attacks. This is, in part, because access to advanced Artificial Intelligence solutions and Machine Learning (ML) tools are increasing as the costs of developing and adapting these technologies decreases. This means that more complex and adaptive malicious software can be created more easily and at lower cost to cyber criminals. This combination of factors creates vulnerabilities for cyber criminals to exploit.
Human Element
One of the less-acknowledged risks of Artificial Intelligence in cyber security concerns the human element of complacency. If your organization adopts AI and Machine Learning as part of their cyber security strategy, there is a risk that your employees may be more willing to lower their guard. We do not need to re-state the dangers of complacent and unaware employees as we have already talked about the importance of cyber security.
Adversarial AI
Another risk of Artificial Intelligence in cyber security comes in the form of adversarial AI, a term used to refer to the development and use of AI for malicious purposes. Some security experts identify adversarial AI as something that “causes machine learning models to misinterpret inputs into the system and behave in a way that’s favorable to the attacker.” Essentially, this occurs when an AI system’s neural networks are tricked into misidentifying or misclassifying objects due to intentionally modified inputs. Let’s consider the example of a pair of sunglasses sitting on a table. A human eye would be able to see the image of the sunglasses. With adversarial AI, the sunglasses are not there.
