Gavin Ridges
Dr. Leigh Armistead
CYSE201S-23181
5 November 2022
Article Review 2: Artificial Intelligences (AI) Possibilities in Cybersecurity
For article review two, I have chosen an article from International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime, and Journal of Cybersecurity. In this article it goes over how the inclusion of AI in cybersecurity infrastructures and why it is important that we include this in the coming years of Information Security. This article, “Artificial Intelligence Role in Cybersecurity Infrastructures”, is by Cristian Vlad.
We understand the present data security is becoming much too slow to handle the amount of information coming in. Humans are the frontline of security, and the vulnerabilities are endless for hackers to exploit. We learn that applying AI to cybersecurity this can allow flexibility and unreachable detection capabilities that combine to prevent cyber-attacks. Instead of getting rid of humans from cybersecurity, combining them with an AI can help execute the repetitive and work intensive process much quicker.
As humans we are bound to make mistakes. Throughout history humans have been making mistakes, analyzing the situation, and making the situation better. Humans use to run the assembly line, now look at it. It is co-run by humans and robots. Much like this in cybersecurity, we could use the help with getting the simple tasks that are time consuming done. The reason the human part is still involved in this equation is because there are errors and things that go wrong with AI and computer-based machines that take a human to fix these problems. Much like in the assembly line there have been upgrades with the technology they use to put together products.
We can relate this to the fast-moving technology upgrades that are happening with the online world. So much information is coming through that it is starting to be impossible to protect it all. The AI will not be the same as it was in the beginning. It needs to be able to progress and come up with solutions to new problems. Humans are the only way that it will be able to do this, by writing the code and programming it to work against these new issues.
The most analyzed question starts at how AI will be able to evolve without the experience that is needed to cover the hole we face. The answer to this question is Machine Based Learning (MBL). MBL focuses on learning based off patterns, relationships, and making associations between all bytes of data. It even detects when there are similarities in the system or vulnerabilities that stick out. The attacker is the one looking for these vulnerabilities to use statistical techniques to find new vulnerabilities like ones previous that they have used. Though, MBL is much quicker than the hacker in this case and gives the people defending the system the advantage.
It is known that there has already been implementation with AI in cybersecurity. Companies have already gotten the ball rolling and are constantly trying to find the most efficient and effective AI. Much of what is read throughout is information that is given from already having AI and doing test with it. There are companies that do utilize it to run tasks and that is why this article is here. This is a review of what is going on with AI and how effective it has already been. It is telling us what it wrong or what could go wrong when it is used and how beneficial it can be if these risks are taken away.
This is a good example of putting the emotions to the side and to start acting like a robot when analyzing and dealing with an attack. By taking out the whole emotions aspect on having to assess a situation. Bringing in AI can make all humans jobs much easier. Doing things like generating alerts, being able to identify threats, protect information, learning overtime, and handling a load of data. All of these can contribute to allowing humans to have to do very little work in that case.
This can lead into the next argument of the concerns for marginalized groups that comes with bringing in AI. With already low rates of women and colored people, adding AI in this mix may mean for less jobs available. Though it is not purposeful, many higher ups in CS think that this field need individuals that are different and younger than the ones in the field now. That is the main fear with many things, and it could be possible that this is not an issue whatsoever. It is something to think about when the time comes for a company to be able to implement AI in their systems.
AI throughout our society usually takes the role that many humans look to stay away from because they many of them are equipped for it the task is something very repetitive. In cybersecurity AI plays this exact role offering different possibilities and methods, such as machine learning, intelligent agents, pattern recognition, heuristics, and data mining. The main problem for humans would be the amount of data that has to processed, this would be the repetitive part that AI can take away. AI can give an evolutionary advantage to the side that is able to use it, detecting even the slightest changes in byte patterns. Lastly, it brings a proactive defense that would not involve humans staying up throughout the night to monitor a system. This proactive defense is constantly working, monitoring the entire threat surface.
Works Cited
Oancea, Cristian-Vlad. “Artificial Intelligence Role in Cybersecurity Infrastructures.” International Journal of Information Security and Cybercrime, vol. 4, no. 1, 2015, pp. 59-62. HeinOnline, https://heinonline-org.proxy.lib.odu.edu/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/ijisc4&i=62.