Some Concerns About Using A.I. for Network Security

Researchers continue looking for the newest and best in network security technology, and artificial intelligence is one of them. While A.I. has the potential to be a significant benefit to your business’ network security, it does so at a high cost. Is there a way to meet somewhere in the middle?

It’s vital to comprehend why A.I. might seem like the answer.

Why is A.I. So Fascinating?
You would think that depending on automated systems to protect a network would be less than ideal, but there are a lot of reasons why technology specialists find it such an alluring prospect. For starters, there is a considerable lack of IT expertise in the modern business world. This makes it hard to find workers who are technically skilled enough to provide adequate network security. Moreover, with more devices connecting to the Internet than ever before, the idea of making network security and threat detection automated through the use of A.I. and algorithms seems like the correct call. It makes the jobs of your in-house IT department much easier, but at what cost?

There are numerous reasons why artificial intelligence for network security should be approached with caution. Some of those reasons include: 

Contemplate How Threats Are Detected by A.I.
In order for artificial intelligence to detect threats, it somehow has to be taught how to identify them. While machine learning can help it better determine the nature of threats over time, the point stands that it must be taught how to initially identify the good from the bad. The MIT Technology Review explains, in this way, that A.I. is “trained” to detect threats based on tags assigned to specific data sets, which can be reverse-engineered by malware developers to create threats that are more difficult to identify by automated systems.

Over-Reliance on a Single Method
With only a lone method of detecting threats, A.I. is especially vulnerable. Imagine that your office has hired a single security guard to keep watch over the front door at night. You don’t have any other guards on-site in the building itself, and no security cameras to alert the local authorities should anything happen that’s not expected. While this is great for that particular entry point, it makes the entire system vulnerable if it’s compromised. Essentially, if you depend on only a single platform to detect and terminate threats, you are exposed if that system is unable to ascertain a certain threat.

Does your organization want to optimize security? Macro Systems can help. To learn more, reach out to us at 703-359-9211.