Over one million people logged into ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) language and text generator by OpenAI, during its first weeks after launch in November. People created marketing plans, developed code, authored essays, and asked the chatbot endless questions with a keen interest in its AI capabilities.
Before ChatGPT, many people thought of AI as science fiction. Now that it has reached mainstream use, it is a suitable time to look at what it means for the cybersecurity landscape.
AI in Cybersecurity
AI can generate code to help less-skilled threat actors launch more sophisticated attacks. The current analysis points to cybercriminals already using OpenAI to assist in building malicious threats. As AI continues to develop, there is no doubt that all levels of threat actors, including nation-state-grade offenders, will use AI to create more potent and elusive cyberattacks.
On the other hand, AI integrated into cybersecurity systems can better prevent future attacks more quickly and efficiently. For a company that receives alerts for hundreds of thousands of cyber events daily, threats can slip through unnoticed. Security teams integrating AI into their system are better protected from both known and unknown threats.
Here are six benefits to utilizing AI to build an adaptive cyber defense plan that can keep up with these advanced technological times.
1. AI is continuously learning
AI uses machine learning to keep learning on its own. Using algorithms and statistical models, AI systems can draw inferences from data patterns to adapt to new situations without following specific instructions. For cybersecurity, this is crucial as cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated. An adaptive cyber defense plan that utilizes AI can detect cyber threats, threat actors, and groups early enough to block or create countermeasures for them. This is due to the continuous learning model that allows the system to adapt to new hacking tools before ever being exposed.
2. AI can process a lot of data at a time
AI can handle an enormous volume of data, more than any human. Businesses rely on robust communication to run everything from finance, logistics, customer data, and priority product information. With such large networks within a company, it’s challenging for security teams to always detect potential threats. Even one cyber attack can severely disrupt a company. AI cybersecurity can assist IT and security teams in detecting threats hidden among bustling networks while automatically creating algorithms to see future risks. This allows staff to limit time spent on cyber investigations and focus more on programming and developing their AI systems to resolve future attacks.
3. AI can detect unknown threats
Another way AI aids cybersecurity personnel is by detecting threats that a cybersecurity system hasn’t faced prior. Threat actors are often developing novel tools to circumvent security systems. As AI continues to learn, it’s better armored for detecting alien threats. AI acquired in cybersecurity has proven itself to be one of the best adaptive cyber defense tools, capable of combining the benefits of different security technologies to identify new and unknown threats.
4. AI reduces redundant cyber security checks.
While not all cyber security threats are hard to catch or subdue, the volume of alerts can cause alert fatigue among cybersecurity specialists. Utilizing AI can take care of a company’s fundamental security checks and redundant procedures, leaving cybersecurity teams to focus on other crucial areas. This aspect of AI can be utilized to make a more adaptive cyber defense plan. As AI cybersecurity monitors, it can identify and work against attacks 24/7. Additionally, an in-depth analysis of cybersecurity networks can identify security gaps that could devastate a business.
5. AI secures authentication
Businesses run on consumer data and thus need extra security measures to protect their databases containing confidential and personal customer information. Credit card information, user IDs, passwords, and other personal information of customers are constantly at risk of theft if there is a data breach. AI tools offer ways to secure all this data with better measures like facial and voice recognition, CAPTCHA, or fingerprint scanners that improve in identifying a customer better each time they log in. If an attacker attempts to log in, AI can better recognize it as a hacker by comparing the attempt to past login information. Businesses and companies that store crucial customer data, like hospitals and banks, can thus benefit from an extra layer of protection by an AI adaptive cyber defense plan.
6. AI provides a long-term adaptive cyber defense plan
Typically, conventional cybersecurity applications are replaced because hackers have surpassed their capabilities or standard network changes create security holes that they can’t support. In its present state, AI cannot automate ongoing defense. However, its impressive continuous learning capabilities mean that AI-led cybersecurity systems need updating less often. Cybersecurity systems cannot evolve without upgrading, but AI continuously adapts new information in its application. AI provides the best option for longer-lasting solutions requiring less system maintenance.
HolistiCyber can help
Utilizing AI offers better overall security and significant aid to cybersecurity teams. However, the influx of data and analysis produced by AI models can become a task on its own. HolistiCyber’s experts are at the forefront of harnessing the power of AI to transform that data into robust adaptive cyber defense to prioritize risks and vulnerabilities. Using a data-centered approach, we maximize AI capabilities to help security leaders avoid costly mistakes and make data-driven decisions for an organization’s specific needs.
If you want to elevate your organization’s security posture, integrating AI as a tool in your cybersecurity defense apparatus is a tactic to consider seriously. See how HolistiCyber can help you to optimize your defensive shield by harnessing the power of AI-driven cyber-defense planning.
