Security News > 2020 > January > How AI, ML, and automation can improve cybersecurity protection
Scott Matteson: How do AI and ML improve cybersecurity measures?
Anish Joshi: Since AI and ML are not only used in cybersecurity but also in cybercrime, the bad guys use them to better profile their victims and accelerate attacks.
"Let's take a step back and look at why artificial intelligence and machine learning have become the darlings of security. It isn't because the robots are taking over, but rather because the humans are. The population of the internet is somewhere in the 4 billion range or about half the world's population. Where there are humans, there is risk. That means cybersecurity has become the frontline for how we approach risk in our businesses, our governments, and even our personal lives."
"The sheer volume of cybersecurity threats for organizations is increasing, and the reality is that humans cannot outrun that risk without the help of technology like AI and ML. AI and ML are force multipliers in that they enable IT security teams to spot the proverbial needle in the 'threat haystack' more rapidly by quickly synthesizing massive amounts of data to detect the real areas of concern. This is true not just for IT security teams but of identity teams as well who face a similar big data problem of the identity variety during their digital transformation. This means more identities have to be managed across more applications and data."
"With AI and ML as part of an identity governance program, businesses have the power to manage and spot risky user behaviors, anticipate user access needs, and automate security processes for what is often tens or hundreds of thousands of users-humans and bots. All of those users have access to business-critical systems and applications. You can also bet that those users are being targeted by hackers, which is all the more reason to embrace AI and ML across the cybersecurity and identity boards."