How Reliable is Real-time Cyber Security

How Reliable is Real-time Cyber Security

As the business landscape changes, our world is changing rapidly, and organizations question how reliable is real-time cyber security?

Traditional IT related methods for securing networks involves responding after cyber threats had occurred or preparing for a possible cyber-attack.   Fortunately, organizations can now make use of a different cyber security tools and methods known as real-time cyber security.

Real-time cyber security monitors proactively collect data about a network’s traffic levels, connected devices, as well as who is attempting to access which resources in real-time.  By an organization learning what constitutes acceptable user behavior, they can create alerts when an activity goes out of the norm.

Real-time cyber security can however cause a false alarm or false positive.

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Reliable real-time cyber security would ease the burden on team members

There are not enough IT security professionals at organizations to deal with possible cyber threats.  Cyber-attacks may go undetected for longer periods of time, giving hackers more time to cause serious damage to an organization.  The good news is that real-time cyber security systems use artificial intelligence (AI) features that categorize possible cyber threats.

IBM found that 76 percent of organizations use cybersecurity automation in their organizations to detect cyber threats compared to 53 percent of respondents who did not use automation.  By successfully separating cyber threats from harmless events, real-time cyber security systems can help overworked employees prioritize their tasks and manage their time more effectively.

A large amount of data can be overwhelming for any IT department or managed IT services provider therefore making it difficult to determine if a cyber threat situation is real.  Perfect example is a statement from Ring‘s website, the company has signed agreements with 887 law enforcement agencies since February 2020.  The unfortunate news is that many of the agencies could not link arrests directly to the videos.  Ring users have also stated their ability to share clips has caused problems, such as residents asking the police to handle minor problems, such as raccoons in their yards.

The collection of real-time data – for improving physical security or cybersecurity – can become a valuable tool. A system must, however, eliminate unnecessary information.

Effective real-time cyber security requires analysis

Cyber security is not the only industry that relies on real-time information.  Patients benefit from it as it allows their doctors to make better, faster decisions about their health care.  Research showed that 92 percent of organizations are increasing their real-time analytics investments.

The best way to use the data in real-time is to look at it in context.  Employees may miss the bigger picture by focusing on single data points instead of the larger picture.  If someone tries to access a network’s resource, that could be problematic.  If an employee in Germany provides the right login information, but his IP address is in the United States what will happen?  A cyber-attack might be spotted by the inconsistent location.

In the cyber security industry, adaptive authentication solutions are becoming popular.  Each interaction is assigned a risk score and it is calculated by gathering data about the user and using artificial intelligence machine learning.  With the use of these tools, trustworthy users and devices can be distinguished from those that pose a threat.

Artificial intelligence is not perfect

Real-time cyber security systems usually incorporated with artificial intelligence to assist them in processing real-time information.  The technology, however, is not perfect.  Scientists discovered, for example, that stickers or graffiti can falsely lead machine learning-driven computer vision systems to misinterpret stop signs as speed limits.

Organizations also must worry that hackers might exploit artificial intelligence to deceive them by ignoring signs of danger or treating them as harmless.  Data scientists see law enforcement, civil society, and the military as attractive and vulnerable targets to hackers as the use of AI-based attacks are difficult to defend against.  It is usually more about the inherent limitations of AI algorithms rather than bugs that a software update could resolve.

Cyber criminals and hackers often seek to cause the most damage, and they know that updating their techniques is key to that goal. Remember, these are very smart people.   Cybercriminals have modified their strategies to make the most serious impacts with their cyber-attacks, similarly to how companies have modernized their cybersecurity with AI and other high-tech cyber security options.

Many cybersecurity professionals have demonstrated how easy it could be to make AI systems misbehave.  Such shortcomings do not mean people should avoid using real-time security or other options containing AI.  It does remind IT departments and managed IT services providers that they should not perceive artificial intelligence as hack-proof or otherwise assume it’s working perfectly.  Organizations that choose to work with real-time cyber security should also apply critical thinking rather than immediately trusting what the system says.

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Real-time cyber security is not perfect, but worth consideration

As an organization faces IT security challenges, real-time cyber security is not the only solution but part of a larger picture.  IT departments or managed IT services providers can learn about issues they would otherwise have missed by analyzing the data captured and processed by real-time cyber security adaptive systems. The solution could also result in inaccurate conclusions or overload teammates with information. To identify real cyber security threats, organizations must view things in context.

People who are thinking about real-time cyber security products have an ever-growing number of them to evaluate. Getting high quality options and maintaining internal safeguards to prevent hackers from tampering will increase their chances of making satisfying purchases.

365 iT SOLUTIONS  is an award-winning IT provider that is federally certified by the Canadian federal government under the CyberSecure Canada program.

Is your data in the dark web?  Let our complimentary data breach scan investigate if your credentials are compromised.

365 iT SOLUTIONS is Toronto’s leading IT consulting firm that offers Managed IT ServicesTech Support Services, Cloud Services, Managed Security ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesBusiness continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR), and Cyber Security Training and Dark Web Monitoring.

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