Cyberthreats and their attackers will abound, but the difference in 2023 is that they will be stealthier and more covert in what they do.

In other words, gone are the days of the so called “Smash and Grab” campaigns, where the goal of the Cyberattacker was to launch an all-out, brute force attack against a target and harvest whatever they could.

But now, the Cyberattacker is very deliberate and calculating in every move that they make. For example, they take their time to deliberately study the profiles of their intended victims, and once the appropriate weak spot has been found, they make their move.

But the goal is not to stay in for just short periods of time, but rather for long ones, in an effort to steal as much as they can, in small amounts, so that the victim will not realize what is going on until it is way too late.

In fact, many Cyberattacks like these often go unnoticed, evading all means of protection that have been deployed by the business. So, is there a way that these threat vectors can get noticed and get mitigated in time before further damage is caused in a Cloud based deployment?

Yes, there is. The answer comes through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. This kind of technology can virtually learn and detect just about any looming threat and alert the IT security staff so that proper remediative actions can be taken.

It is important to keep in mind that artificial intelligence is still an emerging concept from within Cybersecurity and is very broad in nature. Thus, the primary goal in this article is to provide a general overview of this exciting technology.

What Is Artificial Intelligence?

When one thinks of the term “Artificial Intelligence,” very often, an image of the human brain is conjured up. To a large extent, this is a good graphical representation of what it is. The basic idea of this is to mimic the thought and behavioral process of the human brain, to learn, and to apply these “experiences” towards discovering hidden trends and predicting the future. Specifically, artificial intelligence can be defined as follows:

“The term artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computing systems that perform tasks normally considered within the realm of human decision making. These software-driven systems and intelligent agents incorporate advanced data analytics and Big Data applications. AI systems leverage this knowledge repository to make decisions and take actions that approximate cognitive functions, including learning and problem solving.”

Artificial intelligence (AI) also makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks.”

(SOURCE:  1 and 2).

As one can see from the above definition, the potential that Artificial Intelligence has in Cybersecurity is quite enormous. For example, many IT security teams of today use a number of tools from various kinds of vendors in order to beef up their lines of defenses in the Cloud, no matter what the kind of deployment or model is.

As a result, they are completely inundated and flooded with all sorts of information and data coming in from all sources. Because of this, there are many false positive warnings and messages that are created, thus putting a huge burden for the IT security team to filter through.

But Artificial Intelligence can use the concepts of data warehousing in order to instantaneously filter through all of this and provide warnings and messages that are truly indicative of an impending threat vector.  In this regard, Artificial Intelligence has also started to make its splash as a task automation tool for both Penetration Testing and Threat Hunting Teams.

As a result, these teams can now devote more time and attention to unearthing all unknown gaps and vulnerabilities that are in existence from within an IT Infrastructure and providing timely solutions for the client on the remediative actions that they need to take.

Another area where Artificial Intelligence helps is in the area of staff augmentation. At the present time, there is a severe worker shortage in the Cybersecurity industry, as there are currently some 3.5 million jobs that still remain unfilled.

(SOURCE:  3).

In this regard, tools can be used to help predict what the future Cyber Threat Landscape will look like, and even provide recommendations to the IT Security Staff as to how best prepare for it. Typically, this would be the role for the Cybersecurity Analyst, but until enough positions are filled in this aspect, Artificial Intelligence will literally become the “virtual” version of it.

The Sub Fields of Artificial Intelligence

Believe it or not, the field of Artificial Intelligence is actually a derivative of other fields, namely the following:

  • Philosophy;
  • Logics and Mathematics;
  • Computational Algorithms;
  • Psychology and the Cognitive Sciences;
  • Neurosciences;

Out of this above list, it is the second through the fifth that are deemed to have the most importance and relevance to Artificial Intelligence.  For example, it is the logical structure of the mathematical algorithms that are used to “learn” from previous examples and apply those rules in making decisions for future decisions; in terms of Psychology, the principles of how the mind and brain interact with each other is also applied; and finally, in regard to the Neurosciences, Artificial Intelligence tools also try to imitate, or mimic, the neuronic activity of the brain, especially in the way that neurons either fire or do not fire.

Conclusions

This blog article segues into the latest developments that are happening in AI, especially with ChatGPT.  Microsoft Azure also has many AI tools from which you build and create all sorts of applications.  If you need help with this, contact us today.

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