Today, we live in an era of exponentially increasing expansion of the Internet. So, a comprehensive protection system covering application security, information security, network security, operational security etc is the need of the hour to combat modern intelligent cyber attacks.
Cyber-attacks have become more penetrating and diverse as volumes of connected devices provide cyber criminals with plenty of security deficient access points to attack on. Rise of IOT has caused a wave of cyber-attacks that has expanded wider than ever.Â
Traditional methods for cyber security require a lot of human efforts to identify the threats, learn their properties and encode them into software for proper detection. Moreover, conventional methods are not as sophisticated as present day cyber-attacks.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has created a revolution in this regard. AI may be defined as the scientific field that tries to understand and model human intelligence. Engrossed in almost every field of sciences and engineering, from healthcare to robotics, AI has reached new frontiers in cyber security.
Benefits of AI for cyber security
Security professionals are inundated with too many things to do involving too much data in a very little time. AI helps them to respond much faster. AI gathers insights and uses reasoning to identify the relationships between threats, such as malicious files, suspicious IP addresses or insiders in almost no time thereby eliminating time-consuming research tasks and providing curated analysis of risks.
Disadvantages of AI
It is expensive.
It requires deep technical expertise.
There is limited supply of qualified workers to build AI tools.
Scope of AI
If AI is implemented and trained with proper care, it can improve cyber security in many ways. Here we discuss a few.
Network Intrusion Detection Using AI
Network Intrusion is a deliberate act of getting access to computer networks without the consent of the owner which is performed to utilize network resources and threatening the network or data.
AI detects Trojans, Worms, Buffer Overflow Attacks, Traffic Flooding, Asymmetric Routing, Protocol Specific Attack etc through Network Intrusion Detection.
Malware Detection Using AIÂ
AI aids malware detection system to determine whether a program is malicious or not. The techniques generally used are:
1. Signature based techniques,
2. Behavior based techniques and
3. Specification based techniques.
AI Framework
As AI reaches new frontiers, there must be a framework for ensuring AI is accurate and ethical. It may include –Â
 Cognitive securityÂ
 Security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR)
 Unified mobile and end-point management
Future Aspects and Scope
AI technologies needs to be implemented in almost all new software products and services which will invariably bring a profound transformation in the way we work, live and do business.Â
Though AI is in its infancy, it has reflected its infinite potential in performing tasks efficiently and accurately in an array of industries from manufacturing, retail, education to healthcare and robotics.Â
With AI focusing on interpreting the results and devising novel techniques for fighting with criminals proactively, it will surely take cyber security to a new level of excellence.
