Influence of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Cybersecurity

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Bygone is the era where the competition was among men; the world has now progressed to such a level that the war is between men and machines.

The digital revolution has escalated to such an extent that the development in the field of Information technology is happening at an exponential pace. We must accept that Moore’s prediction regarding the digital development in 1965 is no longer a mere hypothesis but a proven fact.

With the advancements that are taking place in the field of Information technology, the security of this data has also become a matter of concern for scientists and organizations. With the high level innovations that are occurring in this field, it is an undeniable fact that the future of cybersecurity will be even tighter.

During the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas this year, many companies boasted as to how they have been using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to safeguard their confidential data and information. So what do these actually mean?

Artificial Intelligence: An Overview
Artificial Intelligence is a branch of Computer Science that was introduced by John McCarthy with the objective of making a computer, or a computer-controlled robot or a software that think, work and react like an intelligent human being. Computers that are designed with Artificial Intelligence have been found to successfully execute activities like speech recognition, learning, etc.

Artificial Intelligence continues to grow at a robust rate ever since its introduction, and all of the credit goes to the increased volumes of data and modern advanced algorithms. Artificial Intelligence has spread its benefits in almost every industry including healthcare, cybersecurity, retail and much more.

Understanding Machine Learning
In a broad sense, Machine Learning is nothing but another way of achieving Artificial Intelligence. It can be defined as a branch in AI that helps the system to automatically improve and learn from experience without being programmed explicitly.

Machine Learning is a very hot argot nowadays, and it has gained immense popularity because of its valuable contributions in Facebook’s news feed, self-driving cars, etc.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are really hot topics right now especially since their rampant rise in the field of enterprises since their last year. Now that it has made its way into the field of cybersecurity in such an effective way that researchers have effectively termed AI and Machine Learning as the ‘Future of Cybersecurity’.

Our concept of AI has improvised over the passage of time. Our understanding of AI has come a long way right from depicting AI as aliens or robots that take over the world (In Hollywood movies and science fiction) to carrying out tasks in humanly ways. Today, we are closer than ever to the goal of developing human-like AI which technologists consider to be inevitable.

The principle of ‘chasing bad’ is said to be one of the oldest security principles. The ever increasing sophistication of adversaries is one of the major reasons why this security measure has fallen back. Artificial Intelligence conveniently uses the technique of shrinking the attack surface instead of chasing malicious activity with the purpose of enforcing cybersecurity.

Although a lot of debates occurred over the efficiency of Artificial Intelligence in cybersecurity, it is now a unanimously agreed fact that Artificial Intelligence is much more smarter and faster than any other technologies to enforce cyber hygiene. These technologies will help the IT security professionals to secure their environment against the ever evolving threatening landscape.


Aneetta Andrews is a writer by passion who is currently pursuing my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Mass communication, and Modern Language. She is a technology enthusiast and loves to keep herself updated regarding the new innovations in the field of technology and try sharing her knowledge about it through her writings. She is currently working as a content writer at Mindmajix.


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