Much has been talked about the applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in our day-to-day lives. From people to businesses, technology has left no one untouched to leverage the opportunity it presents. Gradually, efforts are being made to a stage where human intervention will no longer be required. Machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence is the bright future of science- the next level of evolution in automation. When machine learning and artificial intelligence is coupled with cloud computing, it becomes more powerful- the intelligent cloud.
The increasing flexibility of cloud services has enabled businesses using it for sharing, storing their data in an efficient manner, thus improving overall efficiency and ensure savings. Cloud computing has enabled businesses to focus on other important areas rather than investing their time and resources in managing the IT infrastructure. With the advent of machine learning, the intelligent cloud is now capable of learning from trillions of data stored in the cloud and come up with predictions and analyze situations. However, every new kind of technology comes with greater and complex security needs associated with it.
The rise in cloud adoption has led many IT professionals to believe that cloud solution is a primary area of vulnerability. They cite a lot of reasons, which are fairly true. For instance, having a large amount of sensitive data makes it a ‘Disneyland’ for the hackers. To combat such situations and lower chances of a breach, applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning come into the picture for enhancing cloud security. While artificial intelligence is a software that can solve a problem and think like a human, machine learning runs on algorithms to learn from data sets. It follows the concept of ‘more the merrier’, the more data patterns it analyses and processes, the more valuable the insights become.
Let us understand the importance of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning in cloud security.
Processing Vast Data
Cybersecurity systems produce enormous data, so much that no human can possibly sift through it, analyze and generate predictions. Machine learning uses all such data to detect a threat or fraudulent events. With more and more data being processed, the easier it gets to detect and learn from patterns, which in turn is used to spot and unusual change in the pattern flow. To cite an example, machine learning takes into consideration of what is considered as being normal, such as the time and place where employees log into their systems, kind of files the access on a regular basis, traffic patterns and other activities. A slight deviation from this behavior, like logging in during hours other than the usual, are flagged red. This eventually helps in detection of possible threats and a gives a prior warning which can be dealt with in a faster way possible.
Anomaly Detection
The beauty of artificial intelligence and machine learning is that when they process the data generated by the systems and detect anomalies, it either alerts a human or, as a response, shuts down a specific user, apart from other options. With these steps, potentially harming events are detected and blocked immediately before it can penetrate further into the network, preventing any data leak. This entire process act as an early warning mechanism for businesses to get real-time data across geographies and take action ahead of security mishaps.
Delegation In Work
With artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies handling day-to-day routine tasks and checking the basic level of security, human security teams are free to focus on important or complex threats. Not that technology will replace human analysts since cyber-attack can originate from both human and machine and hence need a response from both. But, it does give room to prioritize the workload and complete the tasks in a more efficient manner.
The future is all about a symbiotic relationship between humans and machines or applications developed in the future. With advancement in technology, cloud computing is steadily becoming secure, easier to handle and scalable.