Cyber-attack is one of the biggest threats to businesses, governments, and institutions today. More than 200 million personal records were exposed in data breaches in 2016; including high-profile breaches at the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
99 percent of exploited vulnerabilities are already known. Unfortunately, we tend to rely on firewalls as a defence. But firewalls will not stop a determined hacker. For now, it’s just humans who try to anticipate what the other human might do before they do it.
So how does Artificial Intelligence (AI) play into this? AI can be a valuable ally when it comes to defending against hackers. It can be trained to constantly learn patterns in order to identify any deviation in it, much like a human does.
Machine learning, a component of AI, applies existing data to constantly improve its functions and strategies over time. It learns and understands normal user behaviour and can identify even the slightest variation from that pattern. But besides gathering information to detect and identify threats, AI can use this data to improve its own functions and strategies as well.
Private sector businesses and corporations have already deployed AI systems, and even some governments are using the technology. Why? Because AI can save time and money by going through structured data quickly, as well as comprehensively reading and learning unstructured data, statistics, words, and phrases. This can be utilised to provide proactive and quick responses to new challenges, potentially before a human could spot them. Essentially, AI could save money as well as national secrets.
Still, loopholes exist. Hackers are trying to figure out ways to beat the machines, sneaking in through cracks we didn’t know existed. Right now, months go by before an organisation detects a data breach. By then, the hacker is long gone, along with all the sensitive data.
On the other hand, AI can sit back, collect data, and wait for a hacker to appear. AI looks for behavioural abnormalities that hackers display — for instance, the way a password is typed or where the user is logging in. AI can detect these small signs that otherwise might have gone unnoticed and halt the hacker in their tracks. This can also be useful in spotting user error or manual changes to system protections that could let a hacker gain access to the network.
Any system can be exploited. In the constant chess match of cybersecurity, human hackers will always probe the weaknesses in every system — including AI. Artificial intelligence is programmed by humans, and thus can still be defeated. While AI’s ability to process information is impressive, it can only work as well as it was programmed to.
As hackers adjust to AI systems, human programmers will have to deploy new countermeasures. The cat and mouse game will continue, but AI forms a welcome reinforcement in the war to protect data.
Matt Sumpter, Underwriting Manager - Technology and Cyber Risks at CNA Hardy
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