Pierluigi Paganini
February 19, 2020
Artificial intelligence (AI) is an immensely helpful tool for businesses and consumers alike. By processing data quickly and predicting analytics, AI can do everything from automating systems to protecting information.
In fact, keeping data secure is a significant part of what AI does in the modern world, though some hackers use technology for their own means.
The more we use artificial intelligence for protection, the more likely we’re able to combat high tech hackers. Here are just a few ways AI is securing our data.
Many hackers use a passive approach where they infiltrate systems to steal information without upsetting operations. These passive attacks can take months or even years to notice if found at all. With AI, businesses can detect a cyberattack in advance or as soon as the hacker enters the system.
The volume of cyber threats is massive, especially since many hackers can automate the job. Unfortunately, these attacks are too much for humans to fight against alone. AI, however, is the best multitasker there is, able to find malicious threats instantly and alert humans or lock the attacker out.
Part of the detection process is to predict activity before it can happen. The New York Police Department made one of the earliest implementations of predictive technology in 1995. Their software, CompStat, has philosophy and organization skills in mind. This predictive policing technique soon spread to other police stations across the United States.
Being high alert at all times is difficult, even for AI and other forms of automated software. By predicting threats, systems can create specific defenses before an attack takes place. With this technique, the system runs with as much efficiency as possible without sacrificing security, especially since there are measures in place at all times.
While detecting a threat entering a system is fantastic, the goal is to make sure they can’t enter at all. Companies can build up walls of defense in many ways, one of those being camouflaging data completely. When information is moving from one source to another, it’s particularly susceptible to attacks and theft. Therefore, businesses need encryption along the way.
Encryption is merely changing the data to something that seems meaningless, like a code, which the system then decrypts on the other side.
Meanwhile, any hacker viewing the information will see random bits of text with no apparent meaning. Programs like iManage, which works with law firms and corporate legal departments, implement encryption as the first line of defense.
Passwords are the baseline of cybersecurity. While they’re so common that many hackers can bypass them easily, going without one is asking for someone to steal your data. Luckily, applying AI into the mix can make passwords more secure.
Before, a password was a word or phrase. In the modern era, words don’t cut it. Instead, companies use movements, patterns and biometrics to unlock information. Biometrics refers to using something unique to one’s body to open something, like retinal scans and fingerprints.
Apple’s iPhone X, for instance, uses a feature called Face ID, which scans your facial features with infrared sensors and turns that information into a password.
One thing better than having an incredibly good password is to have a lot of them. However, the multi-factor aspect changes how these codes work. Sometimes, being in a different location will require a user to enter a unique password. Paired up with the AI’s detection system, the characters can even change.
By allowing itself to be dynamic and working in real-time, access can modify itself in the event of an attack. Multi-factor doesn’t just create multiple walls of security but is also smart about who it lets in.
This system learns about the people entering into the network, making patterns of their behavior and habits to cross-reference with malicious content and determining their access privileges.
AI technology can think for itself, more or less. It can detect patterns, find faults and even execute plans to fix issues. In the realm of cybersecurity, this system creates a whole new layer of protection.
With the addition of artificial intelligence, the entire aspect of cybersecurity has changed forever and continues to evolve at a rapid pace. The more advances we reach, the more the field will change. A decade from now, we may not even recognize security features from when the internet first came about.
Kayla Matthews is a technology and cybersecurity writer, and the owner of ProductivityBytes.com. To learn more about Kayla and her recent projects, visit her About Me page.
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