FEATURE: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
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algorithms, as the data set required can vary
based on a range of situational factors. different habits so things that are normal
may often look like anomalies.
If attacks are unique to an industry, such
as on Industrial Control Systems, the AI will
need to be fed data specific to that context.
However, the algorithm would need to be
tweaked when dealing with data sets related
to a sector within that industry, for instance
in the commercial or HR side of the business. However, the algorithm also needs to be
specific if you want to identify strong threat
signals, but at the same time this makes
the data set narrower. It’s about finding
that balance and ensuring AI is fed enough
specific data to function at an effective level
across any sector.
HACKING ONCE TOOK DEDICATION
AND EXPERTISE, WITH ZERO-DAY
ATTACKS TARGETING MOSTLY
UNKNOWN VULNERABILITIES.
You can only take a general approach when
dealing with generic attacks, like spam
filtering, which can be spotted by the AI
no matter what context or industry these
attacks operate within.
AI can be a contradiction in itself sometimes.
While it needs to be specific, it only really
becomes effective when it’s used to spot
anomalies in large data sets.
For instance, if you look for an anomaly in a
smaller group of people, everyone will have
How can AI help overcome
the challenges facing CISO
on a daily basis?
AI’s main value is that it provides CISOs
with the opportunity to more effectively
deploy their human analysts against
potential cyberattacks and data breaches.
With this enlarged target surface area and
a growing number of active hackers, our
experts need to sort through more data
than is humanly possible to detect all
malicious activity.
AI is essentially there to augment the
role of human security experts. Machine
Learning algorithms are key in helping
us pinpoint anomalous data – some of
which is bound to be malicious – but the
AI is rendered totally useless without a
crack team in place to add technical and
contextual awareness to the data.
CISOs and CTOs need to understand that
while AI is here to stay, as data sets become
more and more complex, it will not come to
replace human experts.
Ultimately though, just because an
organisation has an AI system in place,
this does not mean it is secure. Countering
cyberthreats is a constant game of cat and
mouse between the cybersecurity experts
and hackers.
Hackers always want to get the maximum
reward from the minimum effort, tweaking
known types of attack as soon as these are
detected by the AI. CTOs need to, therefore,
make sure that the AI system is routinely
exercised and fed new data.
Think of it like this: If a company has an
employee who is trusted across the board,
that employee still needs to be regularly
evaluated to ensure their performance levels
remain high.
In the same way as humans, AI needs to be
reviewed and trained – and only once we are
sure that the AI is performing can we trust it
to take swift and decisive action. n
Ensuring the success
of AI in retail
Forward-thinking retailers are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to ensure they’re
sitting at the top of the tree in an often turbulent and unpredictable sector. And
as Mylo Portas, Head of Retail, Peak, tells us, those who are taking the market by
storm are using the technology to find new ways of driving sales and improving
the experience of their increasingly expectant customers.
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