Cyber Security has always been a battle – a battle between the people who built the code versus the people trying to break the code. We can think of this akin to a real life fortress, where the attackers are trying to find that one weak point to gain entry to the fortress and the defenders try to make sure no weak point exists.

The strength of an AI is that it is tireless, always focused and always on the job. Whereas a human on the other hand can’t be at their computer all day trying to find that one chink or trying to cover all their bases. AI can continually test your system to look for any vulnerabilities and flag them.

At a Global Level, the threat and impact of Cyber Attacks seem to be continually increasing. As we head to a more digital future, Cyber Security has never been more important - with every data breach compromising the data of millions of people. Starting from the 2013 Target Breach, every year we’ve seen new and increasing devastating attacks.

Following the current trend, it’s clear that the organizations need to bolster up their defense as much as they can in order to survive against the onslaught of Cyber Attacks. Take a quick look at this Real Time Map that displays Cyber Attacks taking place in Real Time. It might be intriguing to watch detached from the flashy lines on the screen, but the reality is that every second a number of attacks take place.

The processes employed to detect any attacks or breaches are tedious and complicated, getting increasingly complex and sophisticated as time goes on. Through Machine Learning, a branch of AI that enables computers to learn and adapt continuously i.e. ‘learning’ through experience, AI comes in and simplifies these tasks. It can automatically detect, analyze and defend against attacks.

Some organizations have already adopted AI into their Cyber Security Ranks, others are sure to follow but there still stands the possibility that integrating AI into your defenses might be counter-intuitive making yourself more open to attacks at the same time.

AI often revolves around the use of algorithms. An algorithms is basically a set of specific instructions that the computer can follow. Building up on simple algorithms, we create complex ones that enable processes to be blazingly fast - keeping tabs on millions of accounts while servicing thousands of requests.

But at the base of it, it is still a ‘manual’ – anyone who gains access to this ‘manual’ can easily find out what makes the AI ‘tick’, subsequently launching an attack specifically designed to go through the loopholes in the algorithm. A darker alternative is attempting to meddle with the manual all together so as to make the AI oblivious to your attacks by whitelisting it.

This is the case with any new technology introduced, it going through a phase of infancy when the implications are not completely understood. Whether we like it or not, AI is going to be brought in to handle Cyber Security simply because the pros outweigh the cons.

As is the case with real war, once one side gets their hands on a piece of technology while the other side scrambles to do the same to even out the playing field. In the future, we can look at AIs being employed to battle it out with other AIs employed on the other side - an endless game of cat and mouse.