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EDITOR’S QUESTION
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NICOLAI SOLLING,
CTO AT HELP AG
S
imply put, Artificial Intelligence (AI) entails applying compute
power to complex problems and then allowing the computer
to come up with a solution. Of the many possible applications
of this technology, cybersecurity is one area wherein organisations
can seize considerable benefits.
And far from being in its nascent stages
– as is the case with the majority of other
AI applications most major cybersecurity
vendors are already integrating AI into
their solutions to deliver the comprehensive
security, thereby rapidly advancing the field
from an innovative to a proven technology.
The need for AI in cyberdefence
Cybersecurity is an arms race, and
unfortunately defensive investments
are greatly overshadowed by offensive
investments – a recent report has shown
that if cybercrime were a country, it would
have the 13th highest GDP in the world!
“
CYBERSECURITY
IS ONE AREA
WHEREIN
ORGANISATIONS
CAN SEIZE
CONSIDERABLE
BENEFITS.
Knowing that cybercriminals are leveraging AI’s ability to achieve
their malicious objectives, provides a strong case for employing it in
cyberdefence so as not to fall behind attackers.
Enhancing cybersecurity with AI
Currently, when we talk about AI in this
context, we primarily think about automating
response and defence – both of which are
necessary and involve applying computing
power to differentiate between what’s good
and bad.
The true potential however extends well
beyond this and there are numerous use-
cases such as utilising Machine Learning
(ML) from event, network and user behaviour
detection to train malware analysis systems
on large datasets, thus generating more
accurate detection of malicious files
and behaviour in various forms of threat
intelligence, as well as detection capabilities
on our cybersecurity platforms.
Every single one of our large cybersecurity platform partners, be it F5
Networks, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, Symantec, Cisco or Splunk, are
therefore applying ML and AI on their platforms today.
A decisive edge
Using AI, cyberattack Deception Technology can automatically
detect, analyse, and defend against advanced attacks by proactively
detecting or even laying traps for attackers.
What’s also interesting is how AI is constantly moving down in the
defence chain. Today, most firewalls and endpoint solutions have
capabilities which at least automate some of the decisions and analysis.
The volume and complexity of cyberattacks is only set to get worse.
When combined with skilled security personnel, such AI-enabled
adaptive technologies continue to become smarter over time, providing
a competitive edge that has been largely inaccessible to all but those
organisations that engage the services of highly technically proficient
cybersecurity experts.
www.intelligentcio.com
Applying AI to cyberdefences can help organisations maximise the
abilities of their security teams by automating large portions of
detection and analysis and enabling them to focus instead on high-
level decision making. n
INTELLIGENTCIO
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