Internet Security Days 2019: Defend against Cyber Attacks with AI

• eco Association: Artificial Intelligence (AI) finds anomalies autonomously and shows strategies to combat acute cyber attacks
• The combination of artificial and human intelligence improves the security level in companies

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can contribute to improving the cyber security in companies. AI can support, for example, the assessment of security warnings and other routine tasks. This is the opinion of 72 percent of company decision makers, a YouGov survey recently found*. Around two thirds (65 percent) of those surveyed agreed that AI methods should already be in use today for defense against cyber attacks.

Prof. Dr. Jan Jürjens from the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST agrees: “Artificial intelligence in the sense of anomaly detection can detect potential attacks already as they are being executed, and in this way help to defend against them.” As part of the Internet Security Days (ISDs),  the security expert will on 26 September be explaining in detail how cognitive systems based on artificial intelligence can support IT security.

AI autonomously examines anomalies in the data stream

In traditional security systems, it can to a certain extent be very challenging for experts to filter out the day-to-day ambient noise to get to the really important information. AI can help to discover anomalies, for example through an analysis of metadata including its source. “With the help of artificial intelligence, even new types of attacks – which have not yet been coded into the standard attack detection systems – can be detected,” Jürjens continues.

An AI can detect a potential Man-in-the-Middle attack, for example, already during the data input, by analyzing ongoing and historical data output. It can also filter for significant deviations, and provide the information, together with an assessment of it, to experts in the company.

Fewer false-positives with security AI

“The combination of artificial and human intelligence enables large amounts of data to be analyzed quickly and precisely, and a defense strategy to be developed rapidly for acute cyber attacks,” says Cornelia Schildt, security expert at eco – Association of the Internet Industry. “The AI provides the staff with an early warning, and thus helps to defend against a Phishing attack, for example.”

Through the more exact analysis of the data streams in the company, the risk of false-positives, which can potentially disrupt company processes unnecessarily, is also minimized. In addition, analysts can concentrate more on strategic activities.

* The data used are taken from an online survey by YouGov Deutschland GmbH, in which 541 company decision makers took part between 15.11.2018 and 21.11.2018. The results were weighted and are representative according to the proportion of employees per size of enterprise. Further information on the study: https://international.eco.de/presse/it-security-study-2019-more-and-more-companies-planning-for-it-emergencies/

How artificial intelligence supports IT security: Approx. 600 leading experts will be discussing this topic on 26-27 September 2019 during the Internet Security Days (ISDs) in Phantasialand Brühl, near Cologne.