It’s no secret that software is a part of our daily lives. We use it to maintain schedules, connect with friends and family, manage our finances and perform daily work. It provides us with convenience and speed, and it also provides cybercriminals. Especially in the past few years, it is impossible to ignore the impact of cyberattacks, which shut down utilities, freeze operations of large companies, leak highly sensitive personal and competitive information, and are exploited to extract millions of total ransomware.
The benefits and challenges of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) brings exciting new possibilities to us in terms of business and everyday efficiency, and does the same for cybercriminals. Year after year, we see an increase in scale and complexity of attacks. With the rise of innovative technologies such as Edge Networks, it can evolve for the next phase of things like self-driving cars and 6G – we also develop more attack vectors for threat actors. It is now clear that cybersecurity is crucial not only to protect the foundations of today’s life, but also to protect our future success. AI-driven security is essential to this challenge.
AI is a mirror image made by an attacker, a power multiplier for the defender. Of course, scale is one of the great drivers of business, but it is also complexity, especially in terms of networking. AI can exponentially enhance the capabilities of good security teams, allowing them to find, prioritize and remediate network vulnerabilities that can be lost in haystacks. Accuracy is key: By prioritizing the most dangerous risks through AI, security teams can continue to reduce risks.
In addition to more technical aspects, combining steps such as AI and security integration will have huge benefits in terms of user experience. Instead of mastering the many different (sometimes fairly mysterious) tools with limited interoperability and independent portals, users are authorized to work on an intuitive, conversational interface through AI tools. Crucially, it allows teams to work from centralized glass panes and provides a singular window for the entire network from which security can be formulated and coordinated.
This creates workflow efficiency and cannot be replicated without merging and AI. Of course, we also interact with AI in its software form. This means it is not immune to exploitation. Ensuring that AI – not only in terms of security, but also in terms of operating tools – has to be a priority.
In fact, AI models themselves are becoming the target as adversaries try to influence AI training and operation by poisoning data and directly discovering and exploiting weaknesses through prompts. They can use DeepFake technology to erode safeguards such as voice and video chat. They deployed generated AI to create syntactically perfect phishing bait for social engineering. Professional AI tools can scan the network to find and exploit vulnerabilities at an unprecedented scale. An organization must take several key steps to ensure its AI usage.
The benefits of zero trust for artificial intelligence
First of all, it is important to strictly manage access to AI services and data. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is the most centralized, AI-powered security platform, and it is the most critical part. Without strict breakdowns, companies are still vulnerable to attackers who can enter through any number of vectors (the most common credential tradeoffs) and then move laterally to the most profitable, harmful operations, operations and data. With zero trust, everyone gets only the access required to perform their work, without the consequences of restricting any unauthorized access. Beyond that, Zero Trust can also identify user behavior beyond its typical scope, so even the most targeted user compromises can be quickly identified and fixed.
ZTNA also needs to be combined with other AI-specific safeguards. Ensure the AI pipeline so organizations can have a good understanding of the data they are ingesting, source, and specific utility rather than working to improve any availability available. User education will also become increasingly important because AI tools, especially Chatgpt pulse generation tools, are used every day for non-technical employees. Establishing a protocol for security tips is an example so employees don’t unconsciously upload trade secrets, competitive intelligence or other sensitive data to public AI engines. We have seen the impact on the company and even invalidate the patent.
Artificial intelligence is more than just a popular fashion. It has the characteristics of a basic technology that can build future innovations on that technology. But to be aware of these benefits, security becomes a major strategic goal, an innovation engine, not an afterthought. Implementing a centralized AI-driven security system to ensure AI usage is the first step towards the future. By leveraging AI security in this way, organizations can effectively leverage their complete tools to increase efficiency and drive better operations, quality, growth and development.
