Realising cyber resilience with AI for security

The pace of AI development is not going to slow any time soon. Businesses that ignore the risks of AI cyber crime face potentially severe disruption to their operations. To help get ahead of the curve, organisations should seriously consider AI for security to bolster cyber defence and future-proof business.

Trained AI models can comb through data, detect anomalies that may otherwise go unnoticed, and suggest countermeasures to stop threats fast. The technology can also be used to scan for new vulnerabilities as they appear and identify potential protection measures.

Organisations with quicker vulnerability management can be better prepared to mitigate cyber risks before they can disrupt business operations.

Handling AI with constant care

Organisations looking to build cyber defence with AI need to know these systems are reliable. That comes down to responsible development and data management.

Acquiring quality data to train AI models is a good starting point, but data sets also need to be continuously audited and updated as cyber threats evolve. Stale data means stale AI capabilities, which puts cyber security systems at risk of becoming obsolete and increasingly vulnerable.

Testing AI models themselves to verify accuracy and pinpoint any blind spots or biases before deployment is also essential. Test sets should be distinct from training data, putting models through rounds of probing questions, edge cases, and simulated attacks. A comprehensive approach to AI testing can help ensure flaws don’t lead to errors, which can undermine cyber defence.

Strict vetting and validation allow organisations to increase trust in AI as a cyber safeguard to help them prevent both known and unknown threats. Trained and tested models can then provide greater speed, scale, and consistency.

Maintaining balance between humans and AI

It’s important to remember that AI is one of many tools available and not a replacement for rigorous processes and human oversight. This is where skilled cyber security teams can provide immense value to an organisation.

While an AI system can help rapidly detect breaches, human expertise is essential to continuously monitor and update AI models and to understand the root cause alerts from AI systems.

Ultimately, using both human and technology capabilities allows organisations to create cyber security environments where each complements the other. AI can help streamline tedious data processing and automated response actions, while human teams focus on higher-level analysis, decision-making, and cyber strategy for greater resilience overall.

Discover how ServiceNow security solutions can help your organisation achieve cyber resilience.