The Transformation of AI in Cybersecurity: Bridging Yesterday’s Promise with Today’s Educational Reality
How AI + Cyber Education Can Empower Cyber Students with Enhanced Speed, Accuracy, and Competitive Edge in the Field.
By: Rooz Aliabadi, Ph.D.
The societal advantages of artificial intelligence (AI) have been a subject of reflection for years. However, it is only recently that the tangible everyday impacts of AI have become apparent. The question arises: what factors have brought about this significant increase in the influence of AI in 2023 compared to the past?
Two key elements contribute to AI’s heightened impact in 2023. Firstly, consumers’ increased exposure to emerging AI technologies has led to greater acceptance and integration. From the ability to generate music and create artistic visuals beyond imagination to automating the writing of college-level essays, generative AI has become an integral part of our daily habits. Secondly, there has been a significant improvement in the maturity curve of AI innovations within businesses, particularly in the cybersecurity industry. This progress is essential to meet the growing demand for enhanced cybersecurity measures, making the rapid development of AI in this field imperative.
The convergence of two key elements, namely the widespread adoption of AI by consumers and the advancements in AI applications for cybersecurity purposes, fosters the necessary trust and effectiveness required for AI to make a tangible impact in cybersecurity operation centers (SOCs). To delve deeper into this transformation, let’s closely examine how AI-driven technologies are being integrated into the workflow of the cybersecurity domain today.
Accelerating Cybersecurity with AI: Enhancing Speed and Precision
After undergoing years of trial and refinement with real-world users and with continuous progress in the AI models themselves, cybersecurity capabilities driven by AI have surpassed being mere buzzwords for early adopters or limited to the pattern- and rule-based functionalities. The volume of data has skyrocketed, along with an abundance of signals and meaningful insights. The algorithms have developed, enabling them to contextualize the vast array of information they process, encompassing various use cases and unbiased raw data. Finally, the long-awaited promise of AI delivering on its potential in cybersecurity is coming to fruition.
The integration of AI empowers cybersecurity groups to revolutionize the speed and accuracy of their defense strategies, granting them a long-awaited edge in their battle against cybercriminals. Speed and precision are intrinsic qualities necessary for the effectiveness of the cybersecurity industry, both of which align with the capabilities of AI. Cybersecurity teams rely on pinpoint accuracy, knowing precisely where and what to investigate, while also depending on the agility to respond swiftly. However, ensuring consistent speed and precision in cybersecurity poses challenges primarily due to a need for more skilled professionals and the exponential data growth resulting from complex infrastructures.
In the cybersecurity domain, it is undeniable that a limited number of individuals shoulder an overwhelming barrage of cyber threats. Compounding this challenge is the exponential surge in data traversing business networks, accompanied by the ever-growing complexity of modern enterprises. The advent of edge computing, the Internet of Things, and remote requirements have reshaped the architecture of contemporary businesses, creating intricate labyrinths that conceal significant blind spots for cybersecurity teams. Consequently, if these teams cannot “see” these hidden vulnerabilities, their ability to execute precise cybersecurity measures becomes severely compromised.
The present-day advanced capabilities of AI offer a promising solution to overcome these challenges. However, to yield effective results, AI must inspire trust. Establishing a framework of safeguards that ensure dependable cybersecurity outcomes is crucial. An apt analogy can be drawn from driving: when speed is pursued without caution, it leads to uncontrolled velocity and chaos. Similarly, when AI is trusted — meaning the data used to train the models is unbiased, and the AI models are transparent, free from drift, and explainable — it can drive reliable speed. Furthermore, when combined with automation, AI can significantly enhance our defensive stance by autonomously taking action throughout the incident detection, investigation, and response process, eliminating human intervention.
The Indispensable Ally of Cybersecurity Teams
One of the general and well-established applications in the field of cybersecurity nowadays is threat detection. By leveraging AI, it becomes possible to incorporate valuable insights from extensive and diverse datasets and identify irregularities in user behavior patterns. To illustrate this, let’s examine a scenario:
Consider a scenario where an employee unintentionally clicks on a phishing email, leading to installing a malicious program on their system. This enables a threat actor to navigate undetected within the victim’s network, seeking out vulnerabilities to exploit for financial gain. The threat actor diligently attempts to bypass the existing cybersecurity measures implemented in the environment. They aim to uncover exploitable passwords or vulnerable protocols, which they can use to deploy ransomware. By gaining control over crucial systems, they seek to exert leverage over the targeted organization.
Now, let’s envision the integration of AI into this common scenario. The AI system will promptly detect the abnormal behavior of users who click on the phishing email. It will recognize the atypical alterations in the user’s processes and interactions with unfamiliar systems. The AI will comprehensively analyze and contextualize this behavior by scrutinizing a range of functions, signals, and interactions. This dynamic analysis surpasses the capabilities of a static cybersecurity feature, which would be unable to provide such contextual understanding.
The behavioral advantage provided by AI and automation empowers defenders with robust cybersecurity capabilities, primarily because threat actors encounter more incredible difficulty replicating digital behaviors than mimicking static features like credentials. This inherent challenge threat actors face amplifies the effectiveness of cybersecurity measures enhanced by AI and automation.
Now, envision this example magnified by a hundred, a thousand, or even tens and hundreds of thousands of instances. This approximate number represents the multitude of potential threats an enterprise encounters within a single day. When comparing these staggering figures to the average size of current Security Operations Center (SOC) teams, typically composed of 3 to 5 individuals, the odds naturally tilt in favor of the attacker. However, with AI capabilities enabling risk-driven prioritization, SOC teams can now concentrate on identifying the genuine threats amidst the overwhelming noise. Moreover, AI aids in expediting the investigation and response process. For instance, it can automatically extract relevant data from various systems to uncover additional evidence of the incident. Additionally, AI facilitates the implementation of automated workflows for response actions, streamlining the overall incident-handling process.
The synergistic blend of AI and automation presents tangible advantages in speed and efficiency, which are of utmost importance in today’s Security Operations Centers (SOCs). Having undergone extensive testing and reached a level of maturity, AI innovations now offer a valuable opportunity to optimize the time utilization of defenders by enabling precise and expedited actions. As AI continues to be leveraged across the cybersecurity landscape, its impact will further accelerate cybersecurity teams’ performance and enhance the cybersecurity industry’s overall resilience and adaptability. This collective effort aims to ensure preparedness for whatever challenges may lie ahead.
Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity education holds immense importance in training the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. The advancements in AI technologies have become increasingly evident in our daily lives, with consumers embracing and integrating AI in various domains. Simultaneously, the cybersecurity industry has made significant progress in leveraging AI to meet the growing demand for enhanced cybersecurity measures. ReadyAI’s collaboration with the Community College of Beaver County in Pennsylvania to create a unique AI/Cyber Program demonstrates a proactive approach to addressing the increasing need for cybersecurity professionals in the United States. By combining AI and cybersecurity education, students gain enhanced speed, accuracy, and a competitive edge. Integrating AI-driven technologies enables cybersecurity teams to revolutionize their defense strategies, providing them with the tools to combat cyber threats effectively. AI enhances speed and precision, enabling cybersecurity professionals to investigate and respond swiftly to threats while ensuring pinpoint accuracy. At ReadyAI, the challenges posed by the limited number of skilled professionals and the exponential data growth can be overcome by deploying AI, which offers the potential to take action autonomously and eliminate human intervention. AI is an indispensable ally to cybersecurity teams, particularly in threat detection, where it leverages extensive datasets to identify irregularities and abnormal behavior patterns. With AI’s ability to contextualize and analyze behavior, cybersecurity measures are strengthened, providing a significant advantage over threat actors. By prioritizing risks and expediting investigation and response processes, AI empowers SOC teams to efficiently navigate the overwhelming number of potential threats. The synergistic blend of AI and automation enhances the cybersecurity industry’s speed, efficiency, and overall resilience. As AI continues to evolve and be integrated into the field, it promises to accelerate cybersecurity teams’ performance further and ensure their preparedness for future challenges. The collaboration between ReadyAI and the Community College of Beaver County is a step towards equipping the next generation of cybersecurity professionals with the necessary skills to succeed in a rapidly evolving landscape.
This article was written by Rooz Aliabadi, Ph.D. (rooz@readyai.org). Rooz is the CEO (Chief Troublemaker) at ReadyAI.org
To learn more about ReadyAI / CCBC collaboration on AI/Cyber Program, visit www.readyai.org or email us at info@readyai.org
