Overcoming Cloud Security Threats with AI and Machine Learning

Cloud-security

The increasing flexibility of Cloud services has made the enterprises to embrace them in storing, sharing and managing their data efficiently. Cloud computing has not only increased their operational efficiency, but also have helped them save thousands of dollars in IT investments.

From helping the organizations deliver faster, cost-efficient and quality results to effectively managing their resources, Cloud services has definitely been a boon for enterprises. It helps them focus on their businesses rather than spending their precious time in building and managing their IT infrastructure.

But, with any kind of new technology comes greater and complex security needs associated, making the universal adoption of Cloud services questionable. Some threats associated with Cloud services are:

-Having large amounts of sensitive data in the Cloud (especially for industries like Finance and Healthcare) can be a promising target for the hackers.

-The enterprises are liable to face heavy dues and even criminal charges in-case of consumer data leakage, under compliance regulations like HIPAA.

-BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) systems have been a great advantage for both employers as well as employees in terms of data mobility and accessibility. But, stolen or misplaced devices, if goes in the wrong hands can be a huge expense for an Organization as they are almost impossible to track without proper tools in hand.

-Weak authentications and leaving the credentials in one’s device can also lead to loss in enterprise data in case of any phishing, ransomware and brute-force attacks.

Offering great value for enterprises in terms of scalability, feasibility and cost savings, it is important that they untangle these security concerns before adopting comprehensive Cloud strategies.

AI and Machine Learning for Advanced Cloud Security Solutions:

AI is a system that has the capability to learn and adapt to the change in its environment. Often used with Machine Learning, AI uses predictive analysis which can pre-model the results by analyzing the past events. With the cyber threats advancing at an alarming rate, there is a real need for us to employ the tools that forges ahead of them.

Crucial Role of AI in Detecting Cyber Security Threats

-A recent study on global security conducted by Nemertes research says: the average time taken for an enterprise to spot the threat and respond with a cloud security solution was 39 days. Some companies were able to detect and respond within hours.

-Faster response time means the threats are detected and blocked immediately from the user’s side, preventing further data leakage.

-The organizations those were able to detect the threats faster employed automation which can only achieved by employing AI and Machine learning based cloud security solutions.

-Fully automated AI cloud security solutions use behavioral analytics to determine a path on which the systems operate. Any deviation from the flow, it takes the system off the network bringing this ‘response time’ to effectively zero. Notably, 28.6% of all companies have already employed full automation to their key business processes, as per Nemertes’ reports.

Moving at a Faster Pace than Cyber-Criminals with AI

Cybercriminals were always ahead of the traditional security standards deployed by the enterprises, posing continuous nightmares to the IT teams. They had to spend most of their time and capital investments in optimizing their security standards, each and every time they experience a data breach.

Now, with the AI and Machine learning technology in hand, their adaptive learning capabilities prove as an efficient cloud security solution for enterprises in thinking and acting ahead of cybercriminals:

-The number of patterns processed by the Machine learning programs increases with the increase in data injected. As the patterns increase, it makes AI easier to give early indications of cyber threats whenever it senses a slight change in this pattern flow.

-Machine learning not only processes the real time data quickly, but can also co-relate them across time and geographical locations. This helps the organizations to be aware of the security breaches and prevent them, days before the event.

-Email has always been an easier platform for cybercriminals. AI and machine learning based cloud security solutions can help to plot relationships between different kinds of content sentiments, mail services and communications. In case of any suspicious patterns, the organizations can alert their employees, days before a threat is potentially identified.

The current machine learning technologies have begun to detect even unusual threat events with high volumes of data. The organizations can now leverage their business process more efficiently through Cloud services with AI in hand as their most powerful tool against security threats.

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