Artificial Intelligence, (AI), has been around for decades but over the past few years, AI has become a very popular topic. AI is used in many ways and is defined differently across cybersecurity. Concerns of AI have been raised which is why it’s important for organizations to provide more effective and efficient security techniques and input critical data when implementing AI in their process to ensure it’s the most accurate it can be. Despite the concerns, AI is paving the way for a more resilient cyber landscape.
The Evolution of Digital Security: AI's Impact on Cybersecurity
AI in cybersecurity has been very impactful in a variety of ways. As Alex Holden stated, “AI will revolutionize the way we combat cybercrime.” We have seen already organizations using AI to detect cyberthreats, allowing a more proactive approach to mitigating risk and allowing for a more rapid response when threats are detected. Also, with the rise of phishing authentication, innovative solutions are using AI and Machine Learning (ML) to analyze trends and identify suspicious activity in system access. Integrating AI and ML into biometrics potentially prevents hackers from logging into someone’s mobile or computer device. AI can provide recommendations based on patterns, trends, and data they capture and report it to the security team to improve their incident responses. These are just a few insights on how AI has and continues to strengthen security in organizations. Increasingly, AI is intersecting with cybersecurity as the use of these technologies becomes more ubiquitous.
Addressing Concerns: Will AI Replace Cybersecurity?
According to Security Magazine, 90% of organizations are using AI for cybersecurity in some form. These statistics can be a bit alarming, but what’s important to recognize is that most organizations are not replacing traditional cybersecurity practices with AI; rather, they are augmenting what are already robust security strategies that include a proactive than reactive approach. As Isla Sibanda said, “traditional security measures often fall short when it comes to detecting new or evolving threats,” which is when AI is integrated into security processes, for organizations to catch these threats quicker. Some repetitive cybersecurity tasks, like data entry, reporting trends, basic customer service, and others will or have been replaced with AI. While there is no definite answer to the “will AI replace cybersecurity?” question, we do know that AI has become a game changer in the cybersecurity world.
Future Trends: Machine Learning and the Automation of Cybersecurity
As stated, we have seen AI replace some of the duties historically assigned to traditional security roles. Automation of repetitive tasks is a great example. Both AI and ML have become increasingly essential to cyber operations as these tools can detect and report back on threats, trends, and patterns, at a speed and scale far beyond the ability of humans. But will AI completely substitute cybersecurity roles? Overwhelmingly, the consensus is no, as we still need that human element touch. One obvious answer is AI and ML are improving cybersecurity and its tasks. With an ever-evolving cybersecurity threat landscape, innovation and creativity are key. Which is why cyber organizations must learn, understand, and equip themselves to use and integrate AI in their processes to not only stay on top of trends and threats but because AI is a crucial tool in the cyber world.