How AI Is Changing Cybersecurity: What You Need to Know

For better or worse, the exponential growth of AI is changing cybersecurity’s landscape forever. Just as AI systems are creating new ways to reinforce your network security, they are also used for malicious cyberattacks that steal sensitive information. This can prove detrimental to companies that can’t keep up with ever-evolving cyberthreats. Thankfully, the more you understand how AI is changing cybersecurity, the better you can protect your data in the future.

Continue reading to learn how AI is changing cybersecurity in both positive and negative ways and what you can do about it, including the following:

What is AI?
How can AI benefit cybersecurity?
What are the threats and challenges of AI cybersecurity?
How can partnering with a managed cybersecurity service help?

What Exactly Is AI?

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, seems to be taking over every aspect of modern technology. It’s currently being used for numerous applications, including ecommerce, education, robotics, customer services, writing, marketing, art, finance, social media, and, yes, cybersecurity. It’s likely not going away anytime soon, so the best thing companies can do is to understand how it works and learn to grow alongside it. But what exactly is AI?

Artificial intelligence is essentially the ability of machines and systems to learn, reason, deduct, detect patterns, and problem-solve similarly to humans. This is done via highly complex statistical models, algorithms, language processing, and countless computing factors. Once the AI systems have been exposed to enough data, they can process and learn from it to improve their performance. This can be applied to a variety of applications across numerous industries.

The eventual goal of AI and machine learning programs is to create a machine that can automate tasks faster and more accurately than human counterparts, or at the very least match current productivity standards to allow people to divert their efforts elsewhere. While AI has a long way to go, it is progressing rapidly and getting smarter each day.

How AI Is Changing Cybersecurity for the Better

There are many pros and cons of AI cybersecurity, the best of which can save companies time and money and prevent data breaches that compromise their information security. Here are some of the most significant advantages of implementing artificial intelligence into your cybersecurity.

Real-Time Threat Detection

Using machine learning, AI can detect incoming threats in real-time to provide maximum network protection that may not be possible with traditional detection methods. This is done by analyzing and learning your network security patterns and ongoing systems to detect any anomalies that could pose potential data breaches. Once the AI has enough information to recognize your systems, it can also dismiss false positives that would otherwise cost time and money to review. Not only is this done much faster than humans, but their ability to continuously learn gives them the edge over cyber criminals.

Network Security Management and Monitoring

Companies can use AI to identify network tracking patterns and improve security measures. AI can create and manage network security policies to protect your company’s data. Manually tracking and recording these procedures requires excessive time and effort that cybersecurity experts could be using elsewhere, and by implementing AI, now they can.

While AI has the potential to automate network monitoring, it’s far from perfect. Using monitoring and management services handles the task for you by keeping your systems up and running.

Network Monitoring and Management Services

Detailed Risk Assessment

AI can perform detailed cybersecurity risk assessments of your network systems to identify any lingering flaws. If left unattended, these security weaknesses could allow cyberattackers to steal your information or damage your systems. Unlike humans, AI can undergo continuous risk assessments to increase detection rates and tighten overall security.

Predictive Analysis

Making cybersecurity predictions can be extremely challenging and time-consuming due to the massive amounts of data to sift through. However, artificial intelligence can streamline this process by analyzing a collected source of current and historical data. Using a string of patterns and algorithms, their systems can make precise predictions about emerging threats before they can infect your network, giving you the upper hand.

Threat Hunting

While AI can detect real-time threats that could prove harmful to your network, it can also go one step further by manually seeking out new, unknown threats and resolving them before they create issues. With this method, you won’t need to wait until your systems have been compromised to identify and deal with potential attacks. Using a combination of traditional threat-hunting and AI-based models can reduce the number of false positives and ensure a secure network.

AI Cybersecurity Threats and Challenges

While AI is changing cybersecurity in positive ways, it also poses many emerging issues. Here are some of the challenges and threats that AI cybersecurity presents.

Resource Requirements

While automated systems can make cybersecurity more accessible and accurate, it also takes considerable resources to maintain. Money, time, and data are needed to create and continuously improve AI, and with their current capabilities, smaller companies may find that it’s simply not worth the investment. Not only that, but the AI must be trained to recognize systems and function properly per your company’s needs, which can take considerable time due to the massive amounts of data you must collect. Failing to input valid data can lead to inaccurate systems. However, even after an AI has become self-sufficient, it still requires maintenance and monitoring to ensure consistency.

Early-Stage AI

Another factor to consider is that AI is still in its early stages of development. While this means there’s no doubt it is going to improve over time, it also means that it is not entirely reliable at the current time. Heavily relying on artificial intelligence can lead to errors and malfunctioning systems. A specialist is recommended during the implementation process, but further monitoring is also required after the established AI integration.

The full capabilities of artificial intelligence have yet to be unlocked, and until that time comes, it’s best to use them with caution.

Cybercriminals

While AI cybersecurity integration can prove extremely useful for companies wishing to fortify their security, it can also trick security systems during a cyberattack. Criminals can integrate AI into their hacking systems to create complex cyberattacks or teach it new ways to work around cybersecurity. It can even be used to bypass facial and voice recognition systems.

Looking for Safe and Secure Cybersecurity Services? Turn to BL King Consulting

If you need managed security services to protect your crucial information from potential threats, no company is more trustworthy than BL King Consulting. As a trusted and reliable provider of managed cybersecurity services in New England, we ensure that all of our clients’ networks are tightly fortified against all manners of cyberattacks, including malware, DoS attacks, code injections, hacks, and more.

Our security experts do more than one-time installations of firewalls or standard updates. We work closely with you throughout the security lifecycle by undergoing security assessments, adding intrusion prevention solutions, managing and monitoring your network, installing disaster prevention and recovery measures, and continuing with ongoing managed cybersecurity services. By doing so, we create an instantly safer and more secure network for your business and continue improving and evolving it over time.

AI is changing cybersecurity forever, making it more critical than ever to partner with a managed security service provider prepared to handle new and emerging threats. Contact BL King Consulting today to ensure your company’s data is protected for the future.

How AI Is Changing Cybersecurity: What You Need to Know

What Exactly Is AI?

How AI Is Changing Cybersecurity for the Better

Real-Time Threat Detection

Network Security Management and Monitoring

Detailed Risk Assessment

Predictive Analysis

Threat Hunting

AI Cybersecurity Threats and Challenges

Resource Requirements

Early-Stage AI

Cybercriminals

Looking for Safe and Secure Cybersecurity Services? Turn to BL King Consulting

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