Intelligent CIO Kuwait Issue 5 | Page 19

+ EDITOR’S QUESTION AMMAR ENAYA, REGIONAL DIRECTOR – MIDDLE EAST, TURKEY & NORTH AFRICA AT VECTRA ///////////////// A I is increasingly becoming a fundamental tool in reducing risk and helping organisations improve their cybersecurity capabilities. The velocity and diversity of cyberattacks is growing at lightning speed. According to the 2019 M-Trends report it takes a median of 177 days in EMEA before a breach is detected, the majority of which are only discovered through a notification from an external party. As a consequence, Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) are realising that they need to focus on rapid and effective detection and response to cyber-attacks. But manual threat hunting simply can’t scale or perform in a timely manner against this gargantuan task, and so leveraging AI to augment and force multiple security capabilities is increasingly valuable. Appropriately trained AI goes beyond simply looking for statistical anomalies, by distinguishing between benign and threatening digital behaviour. AI powered security automation is the rational response to today’s rapidly diversifying threat landscape and ever-expanding attack surface. By automating time-consuming attacker detection and response duties, skilled analysts can focus on prevention and remediation, making the threat hunting process more efficient and effective. Another benefit of using AI has to do with resource constraints. There are over one million cybersecurity jobs left open www.intelligentcio.com worldwide and twice the number of open positions than there are certified security professionals to fill jobs mandating certifications such as Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). The skills shortage plaguing the cybersecurity workforce is one of the biggest threats to the enterprise, as it restricts the ability to respond to cyberattacks quickly and efficiently. Faced with a multitude of unfilled positions, as well as the challenge of retaining top talent, security leaders must look inwards and launch new strategies to overcome the persistent shortage of human capital holding it back. “ AI POWERED SECURITY AUTOMATION IS THE RATIONAL RESPONSE TO TODAY’S RAPIDLY DIVERSIFYING THREAT LANDSCAPE AND EVER-EXPANDING ATTACK SURFACE. The use of AI can address this cybersecurity skills gap by helping to increase the number of qualified cybersecurity professionals. AI lowers the technical barriers of entry into the profession and allows less trained individuals to still be effective on the front lines of the cybersecurity battle. In addition, AI will allow existing cybersecurity professionals to move up-market by leveraging AI to find more complex attack scenarios before they do significant damage. When acquiring new cybersecurity analysts, enterprises will be increasingly turning towards AI for help. The experience of fighting yesterday’s battles doesn’t prepare us well for tomorrow’s cyber-wars, that’s why augmenting human capabilities with AI is making a tangible difference in the risk management and resolution of ‘unknown unknowns’ – cyberthreats. n INTELLIGENTCIO 19