AI4 Cybersecurity Conference NY: Day One Thoughts
Artificial Intelligence, it’s one of the hot new trends. Developing a brand new sport, creating a language of its very own, or perhaps, augmenting jobs and technology all over the world across so many different professions. In it’s current form AI seems to still be in early development when you take into account the grand scheme of things and the future to come.
I’ve already spent half of my day listening to speakers at the AI4 Cybersecurity Conference and if I had to draw a comparison it would remind me of the early days of the internet. Back when the internet was only for researchers and a small handful of universities to share information. It was new, fresh and not ever present throughout daily life. Before cell phones existed and hard drives were measured in the kilobytes. That’s what I’m talking about — the early days of when something when new and exciting was starting to emerge. All that to say, that’s what’s like right now with AI from my perspective.
The digital is here to stay without a doubt — so much of our lives touch technology and the internet. Getting directions, planning events, or even finding out who has the best overpriced Avocado Toast in New York City. As two stand alone fields Cybersecurity and AI both have their quirks, features, and similarities, but imagine a world where you could combine the two to make the digital landscape even safer for companies and people alike. Automated responses, decisions, threat detection, and so much more is only possible by combining AI and Cybersecurity.
The morning sessions at AI4 Cybersecurity left me with thinking about all the good possibilities AI can have. As someone who works in Cybersecurity and studied it in college, it’s best to view AI as a supplement. Humans can only process information and make decisions so quickly and efficiently. Sure there are some people who are more skilled than others, but at the end of the day, if you can improve upon a process as a whole why wouldn’t you. Automated threat detection with AI? Entirely possible. Behavioral analysis for how malware spreads across a network? You bet. AI to filter through millions of security alerts? Say no more. You think it and there’s probably a way to use AI. Shoot if you’re not that good of a photographer you can get a hand with artificial intelligence.
Depending on how a company, consulting firm, or organization implements AI into their security posture it’s apparent the benefit to be had. Now there’s a slight caveat, is AI the end all be all and magic solution to everything? Not exactly, as one speaker said. There’s still that need for that human intuition and human element. False positives are known to happen, and while it’s better to error on the side of caution, AI is only as smart as the algorithm or the human that programmed it.
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