Leveraging AI to Implement Cybersecurity Measures in Government Organizations and Industry
By Kanishk Sharma, Intern, Seth Associates
Keywords- Artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cyberlaw
INTRODUCTION
Artificial intelligence is an essential technology in the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity. It allows us to anticipate, detect, and neutralize threats with unprecedented speed and accuracy.” — Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft
In the today’s world where the interconnectedness is increasing day by day, cybersecurity has become a critical concern for both industry organizations and governments to protect their data, networks and systems. The increasing incidents of cyberattacks from data breaches and hacking of networks and systems necessitates the measures for defending the cyber-attacks. AI plays a crucial role in strengthening the cybersecurity systems of the private organizations as well as governmental institutions and agencies. This approach allows organizations to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals, actively seeking out and neutralizing potential threats before they can cause significant harm. A 2020 report of INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organisation) brought to light a study that revealed “the impact of COVID-19 on cybercrime has shown a significant target shift from individuals and small businesses to major corporations, governments and critical infrastructure. This article delves into how AI is being leveraged to enhance the level of cybersecurity across the corporations such as MasterCard, government bodies and other organizations.
Cybersecurity is the practice of protection of computer networks, systems, sensitive data and financial assets from potential cyberthreats. It is also known as information Technology security. AI can scan email and messages for potential phishing attacks. Furthermore, AI systems identify the potential cyber threats from various sources through its intelligence which allows organizations to stay updated with the latest defence measures accordingly.
Card companies like MasterCard using AI to detect compromised cards and prevent unauthorised transactions.
Mastercard which is a payment card services corporation uses AI to detect the compromised cards and prevent unauthorized transactions. Scammers use various tools and techniques to steal the bank details through malwares and other techniques such as skimming. Scamsters illegally installed some devices which records the card details of the user secretly. MasterCard obtained the AI capabilities by acquiring a cybersecurity firm RiskRecon in 2020.
According to Ed McLaughlin, President and CTO of Mastercard, “AI has been an essential capability for Mastercard for years now, and we see it only increasing in importance and impact.” The Mastercard has integrated AI in its core operation to enhance the level of security.
Mastercard has implemented the AI algorithms in their systems to analyse the huge amount of transaction data and to detect the fraudulent activity. These AI algorithms identify the unusual patterns and behaviours which are indicative of potential cyberthreats.
Mastercard has developed AI powered Fraud detection system which has been a game changer in the financial industry saved the company from potential losses of millions of dollars which significantly enhanced the customer satisfaction and build trust. This system has ability to detect the fraud and prevent the unauthorized transactions. The Mastercard company has claimed that the deployment of the AI in their core operations has substantially reduced the incidents of fraudulent activities by 50 percent.
Measures by governments for implementation of the same
In the past five years, the government sector has been recognized as one of the most- attacked industry along with the healthcare, manufacturing, financial services and transportation sectors. These government entities which don’t just store the confidential information, state- level secretes but also the confidential data of citizens in the country and the same required the stringent protective measures and high level of security. The government has taken measures to implement the AI to combat the potential cyberattacks and to protect the systems, networks and confidential data.
- The United States government is investing a vast amount of money in research and development to advance AI technologies tailored for cybersecurity which includes funding for academic institutions, public-private partnerships, and dedicated AI research centres. Per contra the scammers also start using the AI algorithms in cyberattacks. For instance, the U.S. government has laid more emphasis in allocation of resources towards AI research through initiatives like the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act.
- the European government has established regulatory frameworks and standards to ensure the proper use of AI in cybersecurity such as The EU’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which provides regulatory frameworks for the proper use of AI to ensure the transparency and accountability of the AI systems.
- The United States government is fostering collaboration between government agencies, private sector corporations and international organizations. In the United States, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency(CISA) operates a program known as Automates Indicator Sharing (AIS) program for the facilitation of exchange of cybersecurity threat indicators between government agencies and private corporations in real-time.
The Government’s main focus is deployment of AI algorithm in their core operations for monitoring and analysing of unusual patterns to detect the fraudulent activities to prevent systems, networks and sensitive data from potential cyberthreats.
Other organizations using AI for cybersecurity- the technologies being used and their successful implementation.
Protection from cyberthreats has become one of the major concerns for all the organizations as well as the other governmental institutions and agencies. Most people are shifting towards the digital world through sharing their personal data and information with the different platforms like social media platforms and other digital platforms. User data is prone to cyberattacks from these platforms which can lead to data theft and privacy breach. This resulted in the new technological innovations such as machine learning and AI algorithm which prevent the unauthorized access to the user’s data from the scammers and cybercriminals. Organizations are concerned with the user data and to protect the same they are developing and adopting the AI algorithm in their data storage systems and networks to detect the fraudulent activities in the systems to prevent the data theft and privacy breach of the users. AI algorithm helps in strengthening the cybersecurity of the organizations to protect from the potential cyber threats. Breach of Data Privacy and Cyberattacks have caused huge monetary losses to the organization including AT&T Vendor(9 Million accounts), T-Mobile (37 Million accounts), JD Sports(10 Million), MyDeal (2.2Million), Dropbox (nearly 69 million accounts), Flagstar bank (1.5 Million) and eBay (145 million).
Organizations such as IBM which is the largest research organization in the world uses QRadar Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution to detect the fraudulent activities in their systems and networks and to predict the potential cyberattacks. QRadar record the patterns indicative of cyberattacks which helps the organization to respond quickly and effectively to the cyberattacks. Google’s cybersecurity company, Chronicle, leverages ML to analyse petabytes of security telemetry data in real-time.
Microsoft’s Azure Security Centre employs AI to identify and mitigate threats across cloud environments. The AI-driven threat detecting capabilities enable organizations to find out and respond to threats in real-time, providing robust protection for their digital assets.
CONCLUSION
Leveraging AI for cybersecurity will significantly reduce the rate of cyberattacks and data theft and protect the computer systems, networks and sensitive data from cyber threats. AI Algorithm vested with the abilities which empowers the government agencies, institutions and corporations to respond more efficiently and effectively. The Card companies such as Master Card deployed the AI algorithms to detect frauds and prevent unauthorize transactions which proved to beneficial and saved millions of dollars of the organization resulted into increase in customer satisfaction and trust. Government agencies and institutions also implemented the AI algorithms to protect the confidential information and state-level secretes and the data of the citizens in the nation. Private organisations have developed their own AI algorithm systems to prevent the data theft and privacy breach of the users. As cyber threats evolve with time, continuous AI innovation and collaboration between public and private sectors are vital to maintaining robust cybersecurity defences and ensuring data privacy and security in an increasingly digital world.
BIBLIOGRAPHY | |
• | IBM. (2022). “IBM QRadar: AI-Powered Security Information and Event Management.” IBM. Retrieved from https://www.ibm.com/security/qradar. |
• | Google Cloud. (2022). “Chronicle: Advancing Cybersecurity with Machine Learning.” Google Cloud. Retrieved from https://cloud.google.com/chronicle. |
• | MasterCard. (2023). “How AI and Machine Learning Help Fight Fraud.” MasterCard Newsroom. Retrieved from https://newsroom.mastercard.com/. |
• | Allen, G. C., & Chan, T. (2017). “Artificial Intelligence and National Security.” Harvard
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European Union. (2018). “General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).” Official Journal of the European Union. Retrieved from https://gdpr–info.eu/. |