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How AI is Changing the Security Audit Process
October 20, 2023 No CommentsFeatured article by Emily Peyton
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an approach to computer science aimed at creating intelligent software tools to perform tasks traditional software cannot. AI-powered software can be used to automate tasks, analyze large volumes of data, and make decisions without human intervention.
Security audits are one of the many areas AI tools have proven immensely valuable. Because AI tools can ingest, analyze, and spot patterns in vast amounts of data, they enable auditors to test more thoroughly and efficiently.
AI improves the quality of audits and reduces the time needed to complete them. AI also helps businesses to make more effective use of the data generated by their software and networks, giving them the ability to better protect their data and infrastructure.
Here are some ways AI is changing how we audit our data security.
AI’s Role in the Security Audit Process
Software tools with artificial intelligence allow companies to apply machine learning and deep learning algorithms to data analysis tasks. These algorithms can be trained to identify patterns in data that match security red flags. For example, a machine learning algorithm trained to spot unusual network traffic could identify an intrusion using subtle clues a human analyst would miss. Using AI to automate security auditing and monitoring tasks improves security while saving companies hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.
Security audits evaluate the strength of an organization’s cybersecurity defenses through a variety of techniques, from vulnerability assessments to security event investigation, breach analysis, penetration testing, threat monitoring, and network intrusion monitoring.
For example, AI can seamlessly integrate with SSO identity providers, which benefits a password manager with SAML integration by alerting it to an unauthorized login attempt. It can also detect unusual behaviors typically associated with security threats within the environment. For example, an unusual pattern of log-in attempts to the AWS console could alert administrators of suspicious behavior and suggest ways to improve security.
Artificial intelligence can extract meaning from data. As opposed to humans, AI processes complex data quickly, making it a great resource for the security audit process. Companies could also use AI to understand the context of a specific threat, which could improve detection and prevention.
When AI is empowered by AI hardware resource sharing, it plays a pivotal role in securely managing sensitive or regulated information. This efficient allocation of hardware resources further strengthens data protection, enabling swift threat detection and prevention, which is crucial for organizations aiming to enhance their security measures.
AI can also be used to recommend specific measures to improve security. For example, machine learning can detect anomalies, which helps security teams identify when an application is being attacked. While a team of humans would be required to analyze data to identify an attack and develop a solution, AI can automatically identify the suspicious behavior and suggest a specific measure that can protect the application from further attacks.
AI also helps security teams make better, faster decisions. It can digest enormous amounts of information, translate it into actionable recommendations, and enable security teams to discover what is causing vulnerabilities and critical security issues.
How Can Organizations Benefit from Using AI in Security Audits?
A security audit is necessary for every organization’s data security plan. It can help strengthen security defenses, improve data safety, and keep businesses safe from cyberattacks when used correctly.
AI has the potential to improve security audits significantly. The technology can process security incidents in a more flexible and organized way, allowing the security audit to look more accurate than ever. A security auditor can utilize AI to extract meaning and understand complex events. This could help improve the process for the future, making it a tool for continuous improvement.
Artificial intelligence could potentially help keep data safe and defend companies from data breaches. It will also allow security auditors to focus on the different techniques used by attackers, such as phishing, malicious code, denial-of-service attacks, and ransomware.
It is essential that organizations can use AI in security audits to benefit from its many benefits. Security tools can help businesses take proactive measures and increase their security. A trained security auditor will make better decisions than ever and use more intelligent data and processes to look for attacks that were not possible before.
How Can Organizations Adopt this Technology to Increase Efficiency and Ensure Cybersecurity?
Knowledge of cybersecurity trends and newer technologies to defend against threats is one thing, but implementation is another. For many companies, AI still seems like a futuristic buzzword. Businesses don’t yet have the resources or funding to implement these technologies or even support and manage them.
However, security solutions that utilize artificial intelligence aren’t coming tomorrow – because they’re already here today, and they’re not as expensive to implement as you might think. A number of antivirus and network defense tools already use some forms of machine learning, such as cloud-based antivirus services and intrusion-detection systems.
Adopting AI into your organization’s network defense doesn’t mean replacing all of your hardware and security personnel with Skynet. It’s important to forget what Hollywood has taught us about artificial intelligence – it’s an entirely different concept from human-to-human interactions, and artificial intelligence can’t be thought of as a tool to replace humans.
Companies that adopt AI for security-related tasks can spend more time on product innovation, improving current solutions, and investing in developing better AI tools to defend against attacks. These tools will help companies identify the correct issues and vulnerabilities to take action before hackers can cause damage.
If you think you don’t have the budget for this new technology, it’s important to remember that AI security solutions are relatively cheap, and they’re already available.
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