Introduction
AI in cyber security involves using technologies like machine learning and data analysis to safeguard digital systems from cyber threats.
While AI has been around for years, its recent advancements have made it more accessible and effective.
The increasing sophistication of AI-powered cyber-attacks, such as the massive DDoS attack against Google in 2023, presents significant challenges for security teams worldwide.
Cybercrime costs approximately $600 billion annually, and with rising tensions, AI cyber-attacks in Europe are surging.
As AI continues to evolve, it’ll play a dual role in both enhancing security measures and escalating cyber warfare, highlighting the importance of responsible use and democratization of AI in cyberspace.
Positive contributions of AI
AI plays a crucial role in detecting and preventing cyber-attacks by analysing data patterns and identifying anomalies in traffic, which helps in recognizing potential threats early.
It can also assist in recovery from cyberattacks by tracking down and removing malware from compromised systems.
AI contributes to online privacy protection by monitoring activities and securing personal information.
Algorithms can generate strong yet memorable passwords by analysing billions of existing passwords.
Automated AI systems respond to security breaches more swiftly than human teams, effectively isolating and mitigating threats in real time.
It enhances threat detection accuracy by continuously learning, adapting to new threats, and scaling across complex networks to maintain effective security measures.
Negatives of AI
As algorithms improve and speed up in executing specific tasks, cybercriminals will increasingly leverage AI to facilitate their malicious assaults.
Automated programs can dispatch millions of phishing emails within a very brief period, heightening the likelihood that someone will click on a link or download an attachment.
AI can be utilized to generate counterfeit social media accounts and share content aimed at swaying public opinion.
It can execute complex sequences of actions to overcome security measures and deploy malware onto a system.
Opponents can also target AI frameworks through prompt injection attacks, where hackers alter AI outputs with harmful inputs, emphasizing the need for strong security measures.
Implications for Europe
AI can enhance cybersecurity, competitiveness, economic growth, customer satisfaction, authority and boost employment, but it may strain resources, raise energy consumption, contribute to pollution, and pose ethical dilemmas.
Fire-Fighters Analogy
Firefighters, being human, generally move downhill quickly and uphill slowly. Fire does the opposite.
In August, smoke jumpers in Mann Gulch faced waist-high grass and dry ground while a fire raged behind them. At around 5:53 p.m., with the fire just 500 feet away, Dodge ordered the men to drop their tools and flee.
As the group of 15 men raced uphill to escape the fire, Dodge recognized that they would not be able to outrun it due to the flames' advantage on the slope and the strong wind.
Dodge, lacking formal engineering training but seasoned in firefighting, made an unprecedented decision to start his fire to create a controlled burn. While some of his team did not heed his call for help, he continued alone, lying face-down in the safety of the blackened area he had just created. Source
Recommendations for policymakers
From the analogy, a counter-fire safeguarded the firefighter. For The EU however, employing a counter-fire in the form of recommendations is key.
According to Palo Alto’s 2024 State of cloud-Native Security Survey, about 61% of enterprises are concerned about AI-powered attacks. With the EU-Russia relations strained since 2014 due to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, support for separatist groups in eastern Ukraine, and other charges causing a significant increase in disruptive cyber-attacks on EU facilities traced to Russia-based groups, there’s an urgent need to smoothen the bilateral relations, relax sanctions and turn foes to friends.
Women generally find it difficult to access technology, unlike their male counterparts which widens the inequality access gap to AI. In 2020, only 18.5% of ICT specialists employed in the EU were female with women accounting for just one-third of STEM graduates. With the European Commission report on Women active in the ICT sector concluding that the inclusion of women in the digital economy could create an annual GDP boost of 9 billion Euro, policymakers need to bridge the divide through the democratization of AI, and encouragement of more women to enrol in STEM courses.
The focus has been on creating AI machines that can calculate outcomes and not uphold integrity. With integrity being the backbone of any functional system, policymakers need to start including what a mentor of mine; Hamilton Mann terms Artificial Integrity-fusion of intelligence with principled reasoning in the design of machines to actualize integrity-led and intelligent-followed cybersecurity products.
Most crisis communication experts agree that transparency is key to maintaining or regaining the public’s trust. Encouraging purposeful collaborative research like that of Open AI with Duke University, which is advancing the integration of morality into AI systems through a three-year, $1 million project titled Research AI Morality, to develop algorithms that predict human moral judgments, making them integrity-aware and aligned with human values is also vital.
Instead of just jailing cybercrime convicts, let’s learn to tap from their wealth of knowledge productively.
Furthermore, The International Energy Agency predicts that global data centre electricity consumption, driven largely by AI could double as soon as 2026. With 10 years, the average lead-time to build new electricity grid assets and electrical grids in The EU is unprepared and unused to adapt rapidly as energy demand increases, policymakers need to start investing in grid planning, grid resilience, and materials discovery for future clean energy technologies.
The Fortinet 2024 cloud security report highlights that technological constraints (52%) and resource limits (49%) are major barriers to cloud adoption, emphasizing the need for bridge courses to help professionals address skill shortages.
Continuous upgrades are essential due to the rapid emergence of new technologies, necessitating global partnerships to tackle new security threats, particularly for smaller enterprises.
With Poland, Estonia, Ukraine, and Latvia ranked in the strongest cyber security systems by the National Cyber Security Index, sending Europeans to reskill and upskill in these countries is vital to reducing vulnerability to cyber-attacks.
The fragmented cybersecurity landscape in Europe complicates uniformity, suggesting the need for centralized management, standardized rules, and regular audits.
Additionally, 59% of respondents from the Cybersecurity Insiders 2024 cloud security survey express hesitance towards multi-cloud deployment due to security and compliance issues, indicating a need for ethical compliance management solutions.
A 2024 study reveals that while 81% of IT professionals believe they can use AI, only 12% possess the right skills. Making educational training programs align with the needs of the hour is necessary.
Bridging the divide in AI-lagging European countries through partnerships, investment in infrastructure, unrestricted access to funding, and the export of skilled technocrats across Europe should be encouraged.
Finally, the EU should start organizing AI cybersecurity pilgrimages that draw professionals from around the world to network, brainstorm, and develop sustainable cybersecurity solutions.
Conclusion
As the fire of cybersecurity threatens rage with advancement in technology, employing a counter fire in the form of the recommendations proffered to democratize the system is the surest way to build an inclusive Europe where her cybersecurity space is safe.
Reference:
https://embeddedcomputing.com/technology/security/ai-in-cyber-security-is-it-getting-harder-to-stay-secure
https://www.esecurityplanet.com/cloud/cloud-security-fundamentals/
https://www.b2match.com/e/aim-global-forum/components/48599/u6pHMUv7tFCO
https://www.druckerforum.org/blog/the-only-code-that-matters-is-integrity-not-intelligenceby-hamilton-mann/
https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/05/29/disruptive-attacks-double-in-eu-in-recent-months-cybersecurity-chief-says
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/177/russia
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Digital-Inclusion/Women-and-Girls/Girls-in-ICT-Portal/Documents/women_active_in_ict.pdf
https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/stratcommwriting/chapter/lack-of-transparency/
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/women-digital-scoreboard-2021
https://digitaleurope.org/news/closing-gender-gap-in-tech-women4it-conference