We are always hearing about technologies that are trending. But what happens next for technology disruptors? For me, it’s about understanding these developments and actually looking intrinsically about why these particular trends are going to accelerate the cloud computing space. The way I see it is that machine learning algorithms and advanced computational infrastructure have enabled us to build many new platforms and applications. With many upsides to on trend, technologies carry potential risks and downsides.

Technologists are always trying to increase key performance on any piece of technology that we can by adding layers to create depth and longevity. When the cloud computing was first introduced, the capability was limited. But now, enhancements like artificial intelligence is increasing exponentially, to better the growth of products and services.

I am always thinking about how technology can go next level and with AI it excites me to see the unlimited capability. The way in which AI has developed from not only enhancing current cloud platform incumbents but also power an entirely new generation of cloud computing technologies. I believe innovation drives business growth.

What does this mean for cloud combined with AI?

The cloud industry itself has invested heavily in AI. The AI and cloud affiliation powers two areas which are AI cloud services and cloud machine learning platforms.

Some key players who are investing heavily into the combination:

• IBM with Watson
• Microsoft with Cognitive Services
• Google with Cloud Vision

With combining AI, machine learning and data stored with technology means that both AI and humans can analyse and collect more data and can do it more efficiently and succinctly. Technologists understand that AI is already a ubiquitous part of human daily lives. AI will only improve with the increasing demand and enhancement of cloud technology. The combination of cloud with AI will transform the way in which products and services are viewed.

 The Benefits of AI with Cyber Security

The human element is always important in conjunction with artificial intelligence as even AI can miss certain elements and make mistakes that humans can identify. AI opens up machine learning algorithms to increase top performance. AI also extends additional capability for computing functions and is a tool to assist identify patterns and trends within an organisation. Many attackers are leveraging automation technology to strike. Some organisations are still utilising manual aggregation of data to provide solutions to security findings. The downfall of using manual methods means it can take a lot longer to detect intrusions, but by this time it can be too late and vulnerabilities within organisations are then compromised through the network and data exfiltration. Whilst AI can assist reduce the time for remediation, in my opinion, I don’t believe AI can sufficiently cure cyber threats but can enhance the detection. In some cases, autonomous machine learning can lead to false positives and alerts which can lead to the potential decrease in response time for cyber security teams.

What does this mean for a CISO?

AI is growing to a point where it can potentially become difficult to control and govern from a cyber security point of view. I believe many are fearful of what AI might bring to us. We, as security partitioners can be fearful of the unknown. By adding in AI into the mix can mean that these machines are operating at another level and how can we as humans potentially combat against super intelligent computers? As security professionals, you always need to be thinking outside the box to ensure you are always bettering your knowledge against cyber espionage. You will need to be organised and ensure you are always furthering your knowledge and being two steps ahead of your attackers.

My advice would be to ensure your cyber security business units are familiarising themselves with AI and the protection around this, backed up by in-depth ongoing research. With consistent exploration and knowledge will arm leaders with a comprehensive understanding of how AI is amplifying their products and increasing user experience. This will also mean that they are understanding and weighing the risks that are attached to these type of enhancements. Hiring an artificial intelligence researcher will provide direction and additional solutions to ensuring the development of AI with any cloud computing business. Reassurance and governance would be a strategic solution rather than a tactical one, to capture current state and predict the future state of the AI component.

With anything that is developed, you need to ensure you look at the performance enhancement but also ensure you aren’t getting too carried away with the capability of new technologies. With a security hat on, you need to ensure you are measuring the potential downfalls and risks to anything and to ensure you are maintaining your integrity by protecting your organisation’s assets and data.

AI is apparent in our technology world and it can be implemented to improve peak performance to detect and remediate security threats, alongside the human eye. Because AI is not always accurate, having regular touch points to ensure false positives are now becoming common. Security departments need to be aware of the development of AI and to not let it be totally autonomous. Security teams should be constantly researching and understanding the cyber security threat landscape to ensure they are always two steps ahead of any attacker and are not just reliant on AI. As a security person, you will be always looking at the downsides to ensure that you can identify worst case scenarios.

Keep on keepin’ on,

KB