What is AI for security?

One key advantage of AI for security is that it requires less human management than many other security options. AI makes sense to embrace in support of other products for key use cases. As the models mature and users become more confident in the technology (just as with automation), one can start to knit together individual tasks in an orchestrated sequence.

Modern security solutions are most effective with specific use cases, such as in uncovering and neutralizing phishing, spam, or opportunistic malware on endpoints with a high degree of confidence. As it does so, AI must be able to learn from these encounters, gathering observations and applying logical conclusions to improve its capabilities over time.

Core AI capabilities include the following:

You train artificial intelligence by feeding it large numbers of data artifacts to consume, both structured and unstructured. AI improves its knowledge to understand cybersecurity and risks through machine learning and deep learning techniques. Unstructured data (such as facial recognition and analysis of video and audio) is a promising area where AI may exceed human capabilities, and provide better tools than have traditionally been available.

Artificial intelligence gains insights, then reasons to identify relationships between different attributes. For example, AI might connect the dots between malicious files, insiders, or IP addresses and enrich findings with behavioral and historical insights. These analyses allow for exponentially quicker decisions as the AI gains more experiences from which to draw insights.

Organizations have the potential to optimize their automation efforts by combining them with AI advances. Automated processes collect vital data, and then AI runs the models. The end result is improved analytical insights.

AI security represents the next evolution in cyber defense, but is it essential? This can be a difficult question to answer definitively. What is apparent is that ongoing advances in malicious programming and other threats are making traditional cybersecurity a much more difficult prospect. In fact, today approximately 60% of organizations believe that they would be unable to identify critical threats without artificial intelligence technologies (source: Capgemini). Consider the following factors:

The pace of digital transformation is accelerating world wide. Unfortunately, the availability of trained, experienced cybersecurity professionals is not keeping pace. Artificial intelligence can fill a talent gap that sees millions of unfilled cybersecurity jobs. It is also a scalable solution to use AI for security tools, as they augment the workflows of employees. At the same time, AI frees up valuable resources by reducing time to identify and triage threats. This allows workers to focus on more complex tasks, leaving simpler, more repetitive chores to automation.

Hunting down threats takes a great deal of time—single alert investigations can take days to complete. AI powered security tools are capable of triaging events, cutting down on time that is needed for incident response.

While some organizations have been slow to adopt the newest advancements in digital security, it’s clear that threat actors are showing no such hesitancy. Microsoft reports that “threat actors have rapidly increased in sophistication over the past year, using techniques that make them harder to spot and that threaten even the savviest targets” (source: Microsoft). AI for security empowers organizations with the technology they need to outpace this trend.