The last twelve months have rocked almost every area of life, from the mundanities of keeping on top of grocery shopping or dentist appointments, to the ability entire, global industries have to continue functioning “ or, in the most extreme instances, even existing at all.
AI has helped address some of the most pressing challenges that have arisen from the pandemic. A number of countries around the world have utilized AI to streamline contact tracing. According to a study from Mizoram University in India, the growing use of AI in contact tracing was one of the reasons that many countries have significantly improved treatment and kept COVID-19 infections in check. However, there are other important AI applications that have proven to be invaluable during the pandemic.
AI has also been instrumental in fighting cybersecurity risks, which have escalated as a result of COVID-19. More organizations are likely to deploy new AI-driven cybersecurity solutions to address these concerns in the coming years.
AI is Essential for Cybersecurity During the Pandemic
Very few employees working in any role in any sector have managed to continue work without facing disruption from the pandemic. They have been forced to change or modify their lives in a variety of ways.
A staggering number of businesses have been forced to interrupt their day-to-day operations, and replace them with entirely new systems and routines which, in many ways, remain unfamiliar even an entire year on. AI technology has enabled companies to make changes more easily, which has helped employees and managers adapt.
For the cybersecurity industry, Covid-19 has given rise to a number of new threats and considerations, and those working within this world have been forced to evolve rapidly alongside this new global landscape. They must use new data-driven technology to handle cybersecurity challenges more efficiently.
Here are some of the ways that AI is helping address cybersecurity problems that have arisen during the pandemic.
Businesses: AI Helps Unify Solutions within the Cloud
Arguably the greatest change experienced within the world of business as a whole was the mass exodus away from the office, and into a workday routine that took place exclusively within remote locations. A growing number of operations were administered over the cloud. While there were some major benefits of this change, it also came at a price. That move, in and of itself, exposed businesses across the board to a significantly elevated risk in terms of cybersecurity. With workers accessing the company network via their own devices and Wi-Fi networks, hackers became more aggressive in targeting the weak points in the company’s security.
AI tools have helped companies fortify their defenses against cybercriminals. They can use this technology to keep better track of all of their cloud-based tools and patch up any security vulnerabilities. Barak Ravid, Telecommunications Leader for Strategy and Transactions Ernst & Young, has talked about some of growing trends with companies using AI to address these risks.
The pandemic and associated remote working environment crisis has accelerated the demand for AI-enabled solutions. The crisis has thrust cybersecurity to the forefront of CEO priorities. With millions of workers worldwide working from home on a variety of devices, a myriad of new threats has emerged, and endpoint security challenges are vast.
One notable solution to this move is FWaaS, or Fire Wall as a Service, which represents a major new component found within the latest cybersecurity model: SASE, or Secure Access Service Edge. Under this model, businesses are able to bring together a long list of seemingly disconnected cybersecurity methodologies and approaches, under a singular, cloud-based approach “ one that is far more suited to a disparate and almost-exclusively virtual office.
Healthcare: Prioritizing Robust Defenses
Of course, the greatest burden of the last twelve months has been felt by healthcare facilities across the globe “ many of whom have, at some time or another, been stretched beyond capacity by the demand for treatment.
Unfortunately, such is the nature of the cybercriminal network, these facilities became targets for hackers seeking to hold their networks ransom. The vulnerabilities of the healthcare industry have been being since the early days of the pandemic, as hospitals were stretched too thin to ensure robust security measures against attacks.
Fortunately, the cybersecurity industry has responded end masse in order to ensure that healthcare facilities represented less of a target to cybercriminals by using new AI defenses. Security solutions were made free to healthcare practitioners, for instance, and volunteer groups comprising cybersecurity professionals from across the globe began to jump to the defences of medical institutions.
Elsevier talked about the trend of more healthcare providers investing in automated technology during the pandemic.
From predictive analytics to precision medicine, many hospitals are now using AI to improve patient care. In the process, the efficiency and precision gained from using these technologies is helping it to become the norm in healthcare, spurring a new wave of investment, research and innovation in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. In short, Covid-19 has opened the gateway for tech adoption in healthcare, write authors Andrew Farr and Ty Abonil.
Individuals: Continued Awareness is Necessary to Benefit from New AI Solutions to Cybersecurity Problems
AI can make cybersecurity a lot more robust. However, it is only useful if individuals are properly educated about the risks that they face and know how to leverage new cybersecurity technology to their full advantage. They must also recognize the risks of various online activities.
Phishing has long since represented the methodology of choice for many small-time cybercriminals. Utilising social engineering, and playing to an internet user’s preoccupations, concerns, fears, or interests in order to gain their trust and tempt them to follow links, or divulge sensitive information, to their detriment is nothing new.
It is, however, made much easier by the fact that entire populations are all tuned into the same preoccupations, concerns, fears, and interests. Covid-19 has been wielded as a tool for phishing since the very early days of the pandemic, and the recent breakthroughs surrounding vaccination has offered further opportunities for phishing attempts on vulnerable and unsuspecting individuals.
As a result, attempts to educate the population are growing increasingly proactive. The World Health Organisation, for instance, offers its own resources for those who may not realise the extent to which Covid-19 is been utilised as an opportunity to target individuals “ along with local health services, who fear criminals will take advantage of the public’s desire to circumvent the priority system.
From entire industries to individual businesses and casual internet users, Covid-19 has impacted every aspect of our reliance on the internet, and the risks inherent to using it. The cybersecurity industry has, however, shown a remarkable propensity to evolve and protect those most vulnerable individuals and institutions from harm.
AI Can Solve More Cybersecurity Challenges in the Future
A number of companies are using AI to deal with cybersecurity threats in 2021. These threats have escalated during the COVID-19 crisis, so new AI tools are welcomed developments.
