The Dawn of Gen-AI while addressing Data Security Threats

Are the current threats to Generative AI nothing more than fear mongering? Or there are vested interests in spreading the word that Gen AI will finally replace workers, some of which we have witnessed already? Truth is, no one is really sure. 2024 is witnessing a watershed moment in the development of Generative AI. Who will get there first? Sure, seems like a rat race with several players in play. From Microsoft’s Copilot to X’ GROK, no one wants to be the last to finish. According to Mustafa Suleyman noted in his speech recently, “AI is us”.

And we are under threats we cannot comprehend let alone resolve.

We live in some of the most astounding yet exciting times. In the age of AI, the prime question is “What is the role of humans in Cyber Defense?” With most of the open-source models being released in the market being “free for all”, it is safe to say that the general populace has AI accepted AI as a tool for enhanced productivity and rapid growth, opening the floodgates of opportunities for cybercriminals.

What about cybercrime with the power of AI and Machine Learning? What about the increased DDoS threats and SQL Injections coupled with the power of AI?

The Tipping Point

As AI continues evolving at a scorching pace, businesses must protect themselves from several external threats. But to understand the risks, one must understand the threats businesses face and take preventive measures to ensure business continuity.

As humankind, we are at the same old inflection point between the good and the bad. AI, as we know it today, may not be the same in the future. We are at an inflection point where AI is helping software engineers code more efficiently, bad actors are using AI to swing votes in an election.

As we embrace the current marvels of Generative AI, the potential of threat and abuse run rampant in the dark corners of the internet. What happens when Generative AI is not a tool for creation but destruction? Artificial intelligence, much like human intelligence on which AI is based, are adept at pattern recognition and mimicking actions. AGI is already being used as a weaponized form in deep fakes, fake news, and generated misinformation that is flooding our information ecosystems, eroding trust and blurring the lines between truth and falsehood. Don’t be fooled by threat actors. They are continually using AI and machine learning for crimes that used to take days now takes minutes, not unlike professionals using it for legitimate purposes.

While this constant climate of threats and conspiracy theories, the onus is on businesses to protect their operations and data. Here’s a few ways businesses are fighting back and protecting themselves:

Tackling The Enemy – How Businesses are Fighting Back

While the threats are very real and very advanced, businesses across the world are using several protective and proactive methodologies to fight back. Some of the more advanced include the following:

1. User and Entity Behavior Analytics – This process establishes a baseline of activities that a user and entity perform and then report any anomaly in their behavior

2. Deception Technology – Hailed as the next big thing in cybersecurity, deception technology creates a layer of fake and synthetic assets, endpoints and credentials within a network. They are designed to attract malicious actors, providing early warning signs of breaches

3. Quantum – Safe Cryptography – The advent of quantum computing has provided a way for using quantum computing, also known as post – cryptography, is designed to use extremely sophisticated quantum attacks, ensuring constant detection and threat identification

4. Secure Access Service Edge – shortly called SASE, this is a blend of cloud-based architecture that combines ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) with Secure Web Gateway, and cloud access security broker with WAN capabilities. This convergence ensures that businesses are able to secure and seamless access to employees

5. Adversarial Machine Learning – With AI and ML becoming easily accessible to and all pervasive in cybersecurity, threat actors are developing tools to deceive these systems, adversarial ML helps businesses harden their AI models with training them to recognize and resist adversarial inputs

6. Continuous Authentication – This one is probably the most interesting innovation to stave off malicious actors. Traditional methods used only one authentication step to allow access to resources. Continuous Authentication, on the other hand, uses behavioral metrics, such as typing patterns, or even mouse movements, to ascertain a user’s actions throughout a session. This helps detect and prevent account takeovers and insider threats.

 7. Blockchain – You can’t be working in this decade and not heard of or used blockchain technology. Blockchain based identity management is another practice businesses are using to secure their assets. It can be used to create a decentralized, self-sovereign identity systems that give users control over their personal data. This is especially relevant in cases of identity theft.

8. Zero-Trust Data Management – ZTDM can be defined as the extension of zero trust architecture, following the same principles. Granular access control, encryption and monitoring data continuously, businesses can rest assured that sensitive information is protected.

Our Verdict

The limits of human hackers are no more a threat to businesses and institutions. This article demonstrated the varied threats of AI, but all is not on the dark side. The promise of Generative AI is as pervasive as its perils. In the coming years, we need to understand that AI has the power to AI productively and for the benefit of society - our collective wisdom and collective moral resolve.

The dawn of Generative AI is upon us. Oh wait! That was quite some time ago, in AI years.