“Artificial intelligence” or “AI” is a word that has been generously splashed all over and is omnipresent in our lives today and yet most of us are hardly aware of it. From Siri to Alexa to spam filters to smart searches, AI is powering our lives and simplifying it wherever we go.
What is AI and how does AI work?
In simple terms, AI is a part of Computer Science that tries to simulate human intelligence in machines. Machine learning is a sub-topic of AI and is used along with AI or independently.
Considering ‘gmail’ as an example, have you ever wondered how regular unwanted email gets pushed into the “Spam” folders? One way “spam” can be detected is by making use of AI. By carefully studying hundreds and thousands of messages, the machine learns that the messages with certain “keywords” fall into “Spam”. In our example here, the machine is trained to be “artificially intelligent” to detect “spam”.
This type of learning is close to our learning process as well. The more we read, understand and comprehend – the more decisions we can take.
We can also see AI and ML(machine learning) powering the job sector with bots speaking to job seekers and helping them get an appropriate job.
Cyber security:
“Cyber security” is a branch of study which is used to secure personal and business assets through various means and possibilities (like firewalls, VPNs, anti-virus definitions and more) It also involves studying different types of attacks and preventing them in addition to in-depth topics like phishing, ransomware, pen testing, vulnerability assessment and more.
This is a minimal list of cyber security duties –
The cyber security analyst is expected to read a lot of network data in traffic packets and understand the patterns and anomalies in them. This will enable them to detect threats early and sound the alarm for organizations to prevent breaches. Cyber security engineers also work to detect viruses by comparing new files against a signature list of virus definitions.
So, what happens when “cyber security” makes use of AI?
There are many ways where AI helps cyber security:
- Human beings get weary and tired of doing network analysis for a prolonged period of time. Detecting threats and tuning applications is a tedious job, and prone to errors as fatigue sets in. “Alert fatigue” is real and human beings get exhausted looking for patterns and anomalies in the network. This is where AI steps in to enable the user to detect threats more easily. Machines never tire and the power of “artificial intelligence” and “machine learning” is harnessed by using algorithms that detect “keyword matching, statistics monitoring, anomaly detection”(Source: https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/ai-in-cybersecurity/#gref)
- AI systems are also trained to detect malware in software rather than only human beings doing it.
- Making the users click on malicious links in an email is the simplest form of hacking. Innocent users click on poisonous links that lead them to part with their precious data. These phishing emails can also be detected by using AI by employing appropriate algorithms.
- The power of artificial intelligence can also be harnessed when responding to security incidents. Human intelligence and artificial machine intelligence can work together to speed up detection and response times to security incidents.
These are some ways that cyber security engineers can make use of AI. But it has be remembered that AI can be used by hackers and other miscreants for their own benefit too. It is up to cyber security professionals to keep ahead of the game and thwart them with appropriate techniques.
This is my first post for #MyFriendAlexa. I am taking my blog to the next level with #MyFriendAlexa and #Blogchatter.
Woww so thoroughly explained the meaning of these terms, so informative,
The blog on techs are NEXT LEVEL to hear
Thank you! 🙂
Your posts are always so informative. Every time I learn something very useful. Keep writing.
Thanks Rashi!! 🙂
You know what? This actually made sense to me…when I am such anti-tech person! You’ve really simplified the entire topic. AI is the way ahead. While it is scary imagining putting all your trust on machines, it does make a lot of sense to use them intelligently.
So, true – we have to make sure that we use them smartly and not allow them to overwhelm us!
A very informative post explaining cybersecurity and AI and how they can be used in conjunction. I liked the way you ended the post mentioning the fact it is up to the security experts to keep ahead of the hackers.
Yes, thanks, Jai! 🙂
Indeed AI is all over our lives and monitoring us so closely. And since we cannot escape SM and internet today it has a great role to play in cyber security. You have aptly brought out all this in your post.
Thank you! 🙂
Thanks for all this information. I am something of a technological illiterate and such jargon as AI always used to confuse me but now I understand it better thanks to your post!
So nice to hear!
I got a be honest…. I didn’t think I’d understand much but i kinda got a pretty good idea at the end of it. 🙂
I am happy! 🙂
Hi, thanks for this wonderful primer on AI and Cyber security. The topics are nicely explained and i liked the jargon-free approach to explain the concepts to readers. The real-life examples added to making the post more useful and relatable 🙂
Thank you – good to hear!! 🙂
This is so informative. You explained it in such simple and lucid way. Thank you for sharing this. #MyFriendAlexa #CloudandSunshineReads
You are welcome! 🙂
As we are progressing with AI there is lot to work on cybersecurity. Amount of progress in technology is directly proportional to cybersecurity risk.
So true!
AI has amazing ways of helping next generation.
Yes!
Awesome. You have made all such technical terms so easy to understand. Thanks for sharing. It is a need to understand.
Thank you!
This article covers it all and is the best explained in layman terms. I never knew in-depth of AI and Cyber Security but this post helped!
#MyFriendAlexa #vigorousreads
Thank you!
I am a it student and have read all these terms during my college… Its so good too see someone sharing the knowledge for benefit of others… Loved your explanation
Thank you!
Wow! So easily informed. Thank You. I was unaware of many of the terms.
This is a very interesting read, trust me! As a non-tech person I agree to the futuristic AI and its peripherals.
Cyber security is really become an important factor at the moment, well explained post
Very informative post, got to know a more about the AI, which I lost touch after graduation.