According to a Statista report of 2024, there are more than 4.66 billion internet users in the world, which signifies how unimaginable life has become without this marvel of technology. The internet connects users to the World Wide Web, where they can look up any sort of information within seconds, entertain themselves on the go, communicate with their friends in real-time, work remotely, continue their education, pay bills, shop grocery, and engage in social networking, etc. This network technology streamlines our daily tasks and empowers us to shoot for the stars.
However, the internet has a dark side, as well. This dark side hosts countless malicious entities who are always on the lookout for vulnerable users, systems, networks, and devices in order to hack, infect, encrypt and destroy their data. The situation becomes worse as more and more users join the internet, expanding the playfield for these attackers. Take a look at the cybercrime report from last year, which showed how data hacking, breaching, embezzlement, and identity theft went up to 600% after the COVID-19 pandemic impelled thousands of people to work, learn and do more activities online from the safety of their homes.
Source: medium.com
Today, there is a pressing need for cybersecurity measures on a global level. Using the internet without even a basic level of security is like leaving the front door of your house wide open for invaders and burglars to come in and loot your belongings on a whim. Even internet providers are going the extra mile to include security suites in their offers for residential and business users. Click here now to explore such plans. Still, is this enough? Experts argue no.
Cybercriminals are getting smarter by the second, orchestrating malicious events right under our noses. In this case, traditional software protections fail to cover every ground. To beat advanced threats, we need advanced security, which AI or Artificial Intelligence can provide. Let’s find out how.
Threat Intelligence Database
Source: itprotoday.com
AI has the word “intelligence” in its name. This means that it can assimilate voluminous data, develop its knowledge base, recognize patterns, and grow smarter with each environmental input to benefit humans. When applied to cybersecurity systems, Artificial Intelligence can register all the events of cybercrime in existence and upgrade that inventory of data endlessly. Not only that, it can curate information regarding threat intelligence to buff up defense mechanisms.
A huge advantage of using AI for internet security is that the technology never forgets. Once a piece of information makes its way into the AI’s memory, it doesn’t erode over time and stays relevant. For this purpose, IBM utilizes its Watson AI to consolidate information and streamline its security operations.
Predictive Threat Insights
Source: dailyhostnews.com
AI does not only register data passively. It also gives on-point predictions, based on its repository of ever-evolving knowledge and biologically-inspired neural network. Through cognitive learning and cyber-reasoning, it can recognize the relationship and recurrence of suspicious codes, files, data, or IPs in your network within seconds.
These valuable predictive insights and forecasts can help you prepare for cyberattacks, so you can minimize damage and control the defense line upon impact. For instance, Balbix’s Breach Control AI offers real-time risk predictions and risk management techniques, so you can proactively respond to upcoming data breaches. This gives you a visible edge over cybercriminals and the perfect backing to maintain a defiant security posture.
Omniscient Monitoring
Source: solutionsreview.com
It is impossible for a human team of security analysts to oversee billions of internet files or a huge inventory of online data simultaneously. The threat may slip into a network from anywhere. Thus, having omniscient security monitoring is the need of the hour, and fortunately, Artificial Intelligence can provide just that.
Its assisted intelligence algorithms can scan, record, maintain, and monitor layers upon layers of data, keeping an eye on everything. Its augmented functionality can deliver security software and authentication checks to each gateway in the system at the same time, so only permissible data packets or users can enter or leave the network. Moreover, its autonomous programming can sniff out loopholes in the system on its own, recommending analysts patch them up and reinforce their security for preventing cyberattacks. Google uses machine learning AI to filter suspicious emails in its Gmail service by scanning the content, thus making independent adjustments on a user’s behalf to safeguard their internet experience.
Instantaneous Response
Source: thestreet.com
AI mimics human intelligence, and thereby, makes smart decisions in a controlled environment, requiring minimal interference from the human operators. This autonomy enables AI to self-regulate data inventories, detect and isolate anomalies in the system, and respond to threats almost instantly, based on its deep learning capability. Take Microsoft’s AI-driven adaptive protection against ransomware for instance. This cloud-based machine learning system assesses risk as initiated by a machine or a human actor, and following a set of protocols, automatically initiates a blocking mechanism, which aggressively thwarts an infected code or attacker from infiltrating the system any further.
This AI can also tell whether an attack is about to happen or is already underway, pinging the security analysts while also blocking access at the same time. Integrating such a high level of AI protection into your own network will make the internet a safe place to surf or run your business.
Wrapping Up
Therefore, we can say that Artificial Intelligence carries a great potential to automate internet security for users. As evident by the aforementioned pointers, AI can learn cyber-attacking techniques, give predictions and risk analyses, scan the whole network rigorously, and automatically block attackers from entering into your devices or causing harm.
Since the strategies of cybercriminals are becoming more elusive and sophisticated with time, traditional software protections are falling short and now, cybersecurity agencies are levering AI for implementing security defenses. This is a move in the right direction because we have barely scratched the surface of AI’s application in the real world. AI is the future of everything, from healthcare to cybersecurity, so it’s about time we shake hands with it.
