How Will Artificial Intelligence Impact Cyber Security?

Hackers are getting bolder as we get closer to automation as they are using the latest trend in technology to their own benefits. In order to deal with cyber-attacks, companies are still using traditional methods to find out loopholes (vulnerabilities) to plug them. However, this can take several weeks or months, during which hackers can use the loophole to gain access and extract data. Depending on the extent of the breach, companies have to bear costs, which can amount to millions. To keep attackers at bay, companies are exploring the possibility of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for their day-to-day operations.

A recent study on data breach found the following:

It takes a company an average of 146 days to resolve critical vulnerabilities.
Over 70% of the attacks exploit loopholes which already have patches.
Attackers use the vulnerabilities to their advantage as soon as it becomes public knowledge.

As there is a major shortage of security professionals, using AI can help in the following areas which are currently handled manually.

Threat identificationIt has become increasingly difficult for organizations to defend against cyber-attacks as the area that can be attacked is large and is expected to grow even more. As there are more platforms to be analyzed, there is more data to be analyzed which requires additional tools. This makes the entire process complex and large numbers of security professionals are required to deal with the myriad of data. Using AI in this part of cyber security will help significantly as large amounts of data can be analyzed, map the data according to compliance requirements and remove duplicates and false positives, making the data more useful.
Assessment of riskAfter the data has been analyzed by the cyber security individuals, they have to compare the exploits with the business operations to see how much they will affect an organization. It is hard to know how much affect a vulnerability can have, making it harder to find the right response. AI can use advanced algorithms and machine learning to assess the risks and find an appropriate solution.
Remediation coordinationIt is hard for organizations to increase collaboration between the security teams and the IT operation team. As AIs are used to assess risks, they can also inform the operations team of possible vulnerabilities which will result in the loopholes getting plugged before hackers can exploit it.

AI can be used to deal with large amounts of data in a short period of time, making processes more efficient. As full-scale implementation of AI will take time, users can still opt to use VPNs to remain safe from hackers for the time-being.