Venugopal N, Director of Security - Engineering, India, Check Point Software Technologies (India)

“It is true that AI potentially has become a strong tool in the hands of cyber criminals. There have been instances recorded globally of hackers using AI technology to hack into important accounts, breach into systems and steal sensitive data. At the same time, security professionals are increasingly using AI to predict malicious attacks and cyber threats. It can be thus described as a cat and mouse game, with both cyber criminals and cyber security experts using AI to their best advantage,” says Venugopal N, Director of Security - Engineering, India, Check Point Software Technologies (India).

AI helping solve cyber crimes 

AI has its own advantages. As a predictive analytic tool, AI can detect if anything unusual is taking place in the system and send out alerts to prevent any kind of breach. “With the tactics of cyber criminals becoming more complicated and sophisticated, the role of AI in cyber security will gain an even bigger importance. It can also do away with many loopholes that might exist in the system or network. Also with machines becoming more intelligent and human intervention reducing, it is the organization that has to decide of how AI can be put to best use,” states Venugopal.

Enterprises have spent trillions of dollars on purchasing and deploying cybersecurity solutions, yet attackers still enjoy a 95% success rate in targeted and advanced attacks. This massive imbalance between investment and outcomes is because organizations current approach to cybersecurity focuses more on protecting infrastructure and putting walls to keep people out, as opposed to focusing on what's happening with the people on those infrastructures. And like Venugopal points out the capabilities of AI has not yet been leveraged significantly yet in India but its usage is going to grow with time, as companies start realizing the various advantages that it offers. “It is going to play a significant role in analyzing the security landscape and offering preventive measures to curb the intensity and scale of cyber crimes,” he concludes.