Artificial intelligence (AI) is proving to be transformative across the board in the world of cyber crime and security. But AI as we know it today is just the beginning: many organisations have begun the development of the next level in AI, super AI (SAI), or super intelligence, that would supersede human intelligence and cognitive skills.
At present, threat actors make use of AI-driven attacks, with businesses trying to keep up by matching the threats with sophisticated cyber defence solutions. This is, essentially, AI vs AI pitted against each other in a game of cat and mouse.
Indeed, whoever holds the most powerful AI is set to win the cyber war and potentially even rule the world. AI and its future iterations are so important that they are a key focus for nation-states, just like the Manhattan Project was in the Nuclear Arms Race, with a view to gaining strategic advantage over the enemy.
To date, most organisations have adopted a range of defensive technologies and expect the best protection for their investment.
However, in many cases, budget constraints force organisations to buy any solution that ticks a checkbox at a price they can afford. Companies must comply with regulations and standards, so they acquire security technologies within budget.
Whoever holds the most powerful AI is set to win the cyber war and potentially even rule the world.
But not all products are solutions and may not be future-proofed, or have the capabilities to stop a sophisticated attack.
While many other organisations do have some level of AI embedded in their current cyber security arsenal, they often have siloed point solutions that will soon not be enough to withstand increasingly sophisticated threat actors armed with the next technological advancement in AI.
This leaves too many gaps in their defences to protect the enterprise in rapidly-changing landscapes, plus the increasing sophistication and volume of cyber attacks.
The question that should really be answered now is: whose AI is better? Businesses must spend their money on operations, staff, building products, R&D, facilities and technology, and rely on their cyber security investment to keep their data safe.
On the other hand, threat actors focus their efforts solely on the development of ever-more sophisticated threats to compromise their victims’ defences. After all, cyber crime is a profitable business.
Bolstering defences
The effectiveness of AI depends on various factors, including modelling, volumes of accurate quality data, machine learning to detect patterns and anomalies, deep learning models, training, continuous learning, and it needs to be adaptive.
To bolster defences and connect the dots, companies will need an integrated cyber security solution that can analyse sophisticated threats and respond rapidly and predict the next threat.
Managing disparate systems from multiple vendors can be complex and disjointed, and trying to collate information can be timely. There is no luxury of time to analyse threats, so companies retrofit with more products and add cost and complexity.
Threat actors understand this all too well and have tailored automated threats designed to evade defences and distract security analysts.
To prepare for an SAI cyber security war, companies should consider an integrated cyber defence platform that not only provides protection at each threat vector, but can analyse and predict the next threat.
The solution is to always keep users well informed, combine integrated detection technologies and apply best practices. Furthermore, work with forward-thinking vendors that have been in the game for many years, and have invested heavily in R&D − particularly in cyber and data security.
Select seasoned vendors that have established quality threat intelligence, an enhanced AI strategy and constantly evolve to defend against the cyber threat.
When it comes to the analysis of security data, it is important to ensure the AI system analysing the data can be trusted. Using an outside third-party AI system to analyse data can put the organisation at risk, so it is important that the vendor analysing the data is trusted and secure.
With the right vendors, businesses can achieve security visibility across their estates, and use AI and machine learning to better identify threats and also start predicting what an attacker’s next steps might be and shut down the attack before it happens.
The major, forward-thinking vendors are constantly working to become more proactive, making use of machine learning, AI and generative AI for better, smarter defence that adapts as quickly as attack methods do.
Although few people can accurately predict exactly what super intelligence will look like and how it will change the world, the rapid pace of AI evolution makes it a likelihood within a matter of years.
We may find cyber wars taking place in much the same way as futuristic physical wars would − where, for example, war-machines like tanks and drones are completely controlled by AI, analysing the terrain and movements of the opposition, strategising in real-time, learning and outmanoeuvring the opposition.
In the cyber realm, we may see SAIs attacking and defending without human intervention, and the strongest and most advanced ones will win. The future shape of AI is uncertain but now is certainly the time to side with cyber defenders who are ahead of the pack in terms of SAI R&D.
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