We are outgunned and outmanned 5 to 1 against cyber attackers. What automated tools can we use to defend and protect ourselves against them?
Artificial intelligence is known as the simulation of human intelligence in machines. These machines are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions The term may also be applied to any machine that exhibits traits associated with the human mind such as learning and problem-solving ability.
AI in Healthcare on the Global Front
Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important in the defense of healthcare providers and patients as the number and size of cyber attacks against the industry continues to rise to unprecedented levels. This, occurring at a critical time when many of us are distracted by the current pandemic and in more dire need of health services than ever before, flirts with disaster.
Our outdated security tools simply cannot cope with sophisticated APTs - (advanced persistent threats) from pariah nation state military espionage units. Nor can it cope with a newly emboldened Eastern Mafia, where organized crime syndicates operate with impunity from behind the former Iron Curtain. They are seemingly immune from local law enforcement, prosecution, or deportation to the civilized world where law and order still largely prevail.
Whether conducted by military officers or proxies, many of these attacks are nothing more than a form of cyber warfare in order to further the political and economic objectives of their host regimes. Destabilizing the more successful west has been an ambition of the USSR since the advent of the Cold War. The PRC's objectives appear to be similar to that of the Russian Federation, only less focused on fermenting internal division and more on obtuse power conflict and long term theft of any advantages other nations may possess.
Today, cyber attacks and information warfare add a new dimension of battle in the competition for global power. Indeed, this cyber conflict has been carefully engineered to take advantage of the trickle technique, where on an ongoing trickle of seemingly innocuous minor attacks has been engineered to weaken the internals of other countries over time. These minor attacks are carefully created as to not cross a line in the sand that might cause a massive kinetic or other response from the attacked nation.
In healthcare, we need to up our game on the security front. As healthcare continues to digitize for improved interoperability and efficiency, cybersecurity needs to be front and center in design considerations and budget allocation if more deaths are to be avoided. We need to understand what we have connected to our healthcare networks and what risks they pose. We need better threat intelligence and we need better defensive tools to protect against attack. AI-based cyber defense tools will help us in all of these efforts, in addition to removing the need and inherent delay for humans to intervene against attacks in process.
Listen to the expert
Watch Richard Staynings, Chief Security Strategist at Cylera talk about the rising tide of sophisticated, well-funded cyber adversaries, the advent of deep fakes, CEO Fraud or Business Email Compromise (BEC) as its also known, and how AI is making these scams even more convincing and difficult to detect. He also talks about the need for us to develop and implement AI-based cyber defensive tools to inoculate our networks against attacks. Further discussing the need to protect healthcare providers, staff and patients from attack that could result in patient harm or even death. Increased automation and machine intelligence will permit us to respond quickly and thoroughly, and to thwart attacks before patient safety and HIT system availability are impacted.
Cylera's MedCommand platform for Healthcare IoT Security and Management, makes extensive use of artificial intelligence. For more information check out our Products page.
