{"id":10283,"date":"2020-10-13T10:28:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T10:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/?p=10283"},"modified":"2023-10-23T12:26:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T12:26:17","slug":"ai-in-cyber-security-necessity-early-introduce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/bigdata-cloud\/ai-in-cyber-security-necessity-early-introduce\/","title":{"rendered":"AI In Cyber Security: A Necessity Or Too Early To Introduce?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe threats against organisations are growing in volume and success, but can AI in cyber security stop the rot and turn failure into success?\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThere is a list of growing cyber security threats, ranging from a rise in identity thefts and account takeovers to vindictive ransomware strains. Businesses are feeling the strain, especially Fortune 500 enterprises, who have massive stores of data. Because of this, they have become attractive to bad actors who want to try and take over that honeypot.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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But, all is not lost.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAI in cyber security, while not a\u00a0silver bullet<\/em>, can help improve an organisation\u2019s overall cyber security posture \u2014 if they get the security basics right in the first place (firewalls, data encryption etcetera).\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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AI in cyber security<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNew malware is constantly being generated, so it is incredibly difficult to recognise, let alone defend against. AI is able to look at all these various of malware \u2014 some predict it\u2019s around 800 million different strains \u2014 and see certain patterns; this new malware has a similar code to X, Y, Z etcetera. The technology is useful in future-proofing organisations against new malware,\u201d confirms\u00a0Labhesh Patel<\/a>, CTO and chief scientist at Jumio.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAI is also excellent at detecting anomalies; identifying patterns that do not match existing patterns of behaviour. It can alert an organisation if a malicious strain has entered the network quickly. This is a huge asset, because in the past malware could roam undetected for months, even years (Yahoo), harvesting data and generating significant revenue for the hackers.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Does it completely solve the problem? No.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Both the good guys and bad guys are using AI. But, what AI does \u2014 along with basic cyber hygiene \u2014 is help make sure organisations do not fall prey to traditional types of attack.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The AI threats facing businesses are growing. In this period of insecurity, how can businesses respond? Is it a case of fighting fire with fire or is deception technology the answer? Read here<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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AI: mitigating the insider threat as well?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe insider threat \u2014 whether intentional or not \u2014 is the single biggest cause of organisation vulnerability; clicking on a phishing email is a classic example. Employees need to undergo extensive and frequent cyber security awareness training. AI can help here as well \u2014 it can look at the pattern of internal computer usage from different data sources (individuals) within an enterprise. For example, if it\u2019s 2am in the morning and an employee is unusually logged into the network and downloading some internal files, the AI can quickly see this is anomalous behaviour and take the appropriate steps.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cAI systems are becoming as good as human experts,\u201d claims Patel, except they never sleep or take a holiday.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Implementing AI in cyber<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAI shouldn\u2019t be implemented for the sake of it. But, when should it be applied? Patel thinks that if there is a human expert who can do a certain task, but it takes them a long time to achieve it, AI can help. \u201cHumans are very good at recognising patterns and software is really good at following rules,\u201d explains Patel. \u201cYou can teach a machine to behave like a human, and the more data it has, the better it gets at its job.\u201d\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOrganisations want to embark on a cognitive journey and sometimes, they don\u2019t care if AI fits into a particular use case. This is absolutely the wrong approach. To implement AI in cyber security (in anything), there has to be a use case and there has to be a strong data set, for supervised algorithms especially.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Derek Lin, chief data scientist at Exabeam, provides his insights into artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, cyber security and more. Read here<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAccess to data is a significant challenge in implementing AI in cyber. A lot of systems, especially in larger Fortune 500 companies, have multiple data silos. For AI to work, it needs access to those silos to train the algorithms with that data, while complying with regulations and maintaining strong ethics when handling particularly sensitive data.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cYou cannot just take sensitive data and personal data from people and start training algorithms immediately, you have to have the right consents in place, which is something that a lot of companies just gloss over,\u201d says Patel.\n\n
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Why AI in cyber has yet to take off yet<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDr\u00a0Leila Powell<\/a>, lead security data scientist from Panaseer, agrees that \u201cthe key challenge for most security teams right now is getting hold of the data they need in order to get even a basic level of visibility on the fundamentals of how their security program is performing and how they measure up against regulatory frameworks like GDPR. This is not a trivial task!\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cWith access to security relevant data controlled by multiple stakeholders from IT to MSSPs and tool vendors there can be a lot of red tape on top of the technical challenges of bringing together multiple siloed data sources. Then there\u2019s data cleaning, standardisation, correlation and understanding \u2014 which often require a detailed knowledge of the idiosyncrasies of all the unique datasets.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cAs it stands, once all that work has gone in to data collection, the benefits of applying simple statistics cannot be underestimated. These provide plenty of new insights for teams to work through \u2014 most won\u2019t even have the resources to deal with all of these, let alone additional alerting from ML solutions. Until the general level of organisational maturity in the area of data-driven security increases, the applications of machine learning will likely be restricted to siloed use cases \u2013 we need to walk before we can run!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
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Security: day 1<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe fundamental nature of security has changed and security needs to be built in from day one. Organisations need to starting thinking about how to move security to the forefront of the software lifecycle development.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re not living in\u00a0ancient world<\/em>, where organisations develop software and then security comes in later. Instead, businesses need the right skills in the organisation so that every developer, before they start to write a single line of code, understands the security posture and are thinking about security as a first-class citizen.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Micro-services<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThere are also infrastructure <\/a>choices that make life very difficult for hackers. There is a certain architectural paradigm called micro-services, which is bunch of modules, but each of them is doing something very simple. When you have very simple services that are constantly talking to each other, securing them becomes much easier because the services, by themselves, are not doing much, they don\u2019t have a very large attack area. In fact, the only thing organisations need to secure is the communication between the micro-services.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWith continuous development and continuous deployment of this architectural paradigm, it\u2019s really hard for hackers to target a moving window of software.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBut, the problem persists because even now, a lot of enterprises have monolithic software \u2014 a gigantic software package that hasn\u2019t changed for a long time, one which hackers have a lot of time to look at and try to figure out how to attack it.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWith micro-services, there could be 80 different deployments in one day on the same service and hackers can\u2019t figure out how to attack it, because it morphs so rapidly.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Should organisations be handing security over to AI?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBuilding security into software from the get-go, deploying micro-services, looking at global applications (rather than just locally), implementing firewalls and encrypting data. All of these\u00a0basics<\/em>\u00a0security functions will help organisations fight off the growing cyber threat. So, where does AI fit in. We\u2019ve seen that it can help with detecting anomalies, help mitigate the cyber threat and identify new strains of existing threats.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBut, is it right to trust in the technology right now?\u00a0Colin Truran<\/a>, principal technology strategist at Quest, doesn\u2019t think so and questions whether organisations should be handing over their security to AI.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cAre we ready or able to hand over control of security to AI in our environments and as a result become too complacent in trusting such a technology which in turn creates further vulnerabilities? The problem is all new technologies and concepts is by their nature they have had very little time to be fully proven. As a result, we will see many false claims and poorly executed implementations where those that suffer quickly blame the technology rather than their lack of understanding.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cTo avoid the pitfalls that dogged the early adopters of big data and blockchain, organisations must start of small, run in parallel and built of the expertise not just within their own organisation but with all by being open and sharing what works and doesn\u2019t work. That\u2019s a big ask for a community where none-disclosure is part of the defence strategy.\u201d\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The threats against organisations are growing in volume and success, but can AI in cyber security stop the rot and turn failure into success?There is a list of growing cyber security threats, ranging from a rise in identity thefts and account takeovers to vindictive ransomware strains. Businesses are feeling the strain, especially Fortune 500 enterprises,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":635,"featured_media":10284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[226,462,735],"ppma_author":[3361],"class_list":["post-10283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigdata-cloud","tag-ai","tag-cyber-security","tag-security-basics"],"authors":[{"term_id":3361,"user_id":635,"is_guest":0,"slug":"nicholas-ismail","display_name":"Nicholas Ismail","avatar_url":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/medium_7846d3d9-9e57-4968-8d69-64a8c8947899-150x150.jpg","user_url":"https:\/\/www.information-age.com\/","last_name":"Ismail","first_name":"Nicholas","job_title":"","description":"Nicholas Ismail is Editor at Information Age<\/a>.\u00a0 He writes original articles for the magazine and website, interviewing business leaders both on and off-camera while providing analysis for IT and business leaders on the latest technology trends disrupting the industry."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10283"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33648,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10283\/revisions\/33648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10283"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=10283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}