2016年最大熱門可能是人工智能，不過關于“人工智能”的定義也引發(fā)不少爭議。有些人支持人工智能，也有些人認為其充滿危險。還有些人擔心人類會淪為人工智能統(tǒng)治的奴隸。但不管在物聯(lián)網還是醫(yī)療領域，人工智能都已開始發(fā)揮作用。從影響力和技術本身來看，網絡安全會是人工智能應用下一個風口。

眼下還是人類對抗人類。

如今對商業(yè)、政府和機構來說，網絡攻擊已成最大威脅之一。非營利機構身份盜竊資源中心指出，2015年1.78億條個人信息遭泄露，2016年信息泄露更是頻繁，連國土安全部和聯(lián)邦調查局都未能幸免。

2016年加德納網絡安全與風險峰會上，數(shù)據研究公司加德納研究副總裁厄爾·帕金斯談及到2020年十大戰(zhàn)略預測時指出，99%的漏洞都已被公開。很驚人，不是么？

不幸的是，我們只能靠防火墻稍作抵抗，但只要黑客真想攻破，防火墻根本防不住?，F(xiàn)在的攻防戰(zhàn)只是人類揣測別人可能會做什么。

人工智能能幫忙保護數(shù)據安全么？最近一場網絡研討會上，認知監(jiān)測公司Cognetyx總裁兼首席執(zhí)行官桑托什·瓦努吉斯提出，在抵抗黑客方面人工智能是很強大的友軍。人類可以訓練人工智能學習各種行為模式，從而能像人類一樣發(fā)覺異常。

戰(zhàn)鼓敲響

機器學習是人工智能的一部分，主要通過學習現(xiàn)有數(shù)據不斷改進功能和策略。機器學習會熟知普通用戶的行為，一旦稍有偏差就能發(fā)現(xiàn)，例如辦公室明明在德州以，一名員工登錄的IP地址卻顯示紐約州。除了通過收集信息甄別發(fā)現(xiàn)威脅，人工智能也能利用數(shù)據改進自身功能和策略。

與人類相比，技術顯得格外強大。讓人類篩選登錄、電腦使用和系統(tǒng)基礎設施等海量信息是很難做到的。而人工智能處理大量信息既迅速又毫不費力，而且能一年365年七天24小時不停工作。

人工智能是網絡安全的未來？

私營領域的企業(yè)和公司已經開始使用人工智能系統(tǒng)，據美國白宮透露，有些政府部門也引入了這項技術。為什么？因為人工智能可以迅速篩查結構性數(shù)據，節(jié)約大量時間和金錢，又能深入閱讀和學習非結構性數(shù)據、統(tǒng)計結果、文字和短語。簡而言之，人工智能既節(jié)省納稅人的錢又能保護國家機密安全。

不過漏洞也是存在的。黑客會想盡辦法戰(zhàn)勝機器，找到不為人知的縫隙悄然潛入?，F(xiàn)在企業(yè)數(shù)據泄露后經常過幾個月才會發(fā)覺，發(fā)現(xiàn)時黑客早已攜敏感數(shù)據揚長而去。

換上人工智能，會不慌不忙地收集數(shù)據，等待黑客自己犯錯。人工智能可以監(jiān)測出黑客慣有的異常行為，例如輸入密碼的方式，或是登錄地址等。某些痕跡很容易被忽略，但騙不過人工智能，一旦鎖定遭受攻擊人工智能會立刻出手阻止黑客。

瓦努吉斯指出，任何系統(tǒng)皆可破解。在網絡安全這場永不停歇的棋局中，黑客永遠在測試系統(tǒng)的弱點，包括人工智能的弱點。人工智能既然是人類編程的產物，必然能被打敗。雖然人工智能整合處理信息十分強大，但超不出人類編程時賦予的能力。

隨著黑客漸漸適應人工智能系統(tǒng)，程序員也要積極尋找新的防護手段。貓鼠游戲沒有盡頭，但有了人工智能，保衛(wèi)數(shù)據安全的守軍實力大增。（財富中文網）

作者：Hira Saeed，VentureBeat

譯者：Pessy

審校：夏林

Artificial intelligence may be the hot trend of 2016, but the term itself opens up a debate. Some praise AI, while others believe reliance on AI is fraught with danger. Others worry about the demise of humans at the hands of our AI masters. Yet whether it is the Internet of Things or health care, AI is only beginning to have an effect. The next big opportunity, in terms of both impact and technology, is cybersecurity.

For now, it’s humans vs. humans

Cyber attacks are among the biggest threats to businesses, governments, and institutions today. The Identity Theft Resource Center notes that nearly 178 million personal records were exposed in data breaches in 2015; high-profile breaches announced in 2016 include the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to Earl Perkins, research VP at Gartner, who spoke at the 2016 Gartner Security & Risk Summit on the top 10 strategic planning assumptions for security through 2020, 99 percent of exploited vulnerabilities are already known. Alarming, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, we tend to rely on firewalls as a defense. But firewalls will not stop a determined hacker. For now, it’s just humans who try to anticipate what the other human might do before they do it.

So how does artificial intelligence play into this? At a recent webinar, Santosh Varughese, president and CEO of cognitive surveillance company Cognetyx, gave insight into how AI can be a valuable ally when it comes to defending against hackers. AI can be trained to constantly learn patterns in order to identify any deviation in it, much like a human does.

The war is coming

Machine learning, a component of AI, applies existing data to constantly improve its functions and strategies over time. It learns and understands normal user behavior and can identify even the slightest variation from that pattern, such as if an employee logs in from New York when the office is in Texas. But besides gathering information to detect and identify threats, AI can use this data to improve its own functions and strategies as well.

This technology exceeds human capabilities by leaps and bounds. If you asked a person to filter through massive amounts of information that included logins, computer usage, and system infrastructure, they would never be able to keep on top of all that data. AI, on the other hand, can handle all of this information quickly, effortlessly, and on a 24/7/365 basis.

Is AI the future of cybersecurity?

Private sector businesses and corporations have already deployed AI systems, and as the White House notes, even some governments are using the technology. Why? Because AI can save time and money by going through structured data quickly, as well as comprehensively reading and learning unstructured data, statistics, words, and phrases. Essentially, AI could save tax dollars as well as national secrets.

Still, loopholes exist. Hackers are trying to figure out ways to beat the machines, sneaking in through cracks we didn’t know existed. Right now, months go by before an organization detects a data breach. By then, the hacker is long gone, along with all the sensitive data.

On the other hand, AI can sit back, collect data, and wait for a hacker to get messy. AI looks for behavioral abnormalities that hackers are bound to display — for instance, the way a password is typed or where the user is logging in. AI can detect these small signs that otherwise might have gone unnoticed and halt the hacker in their tracks.

Any system can be exploited, as Varughese noted. In the constant chess match of cybersecurity, human hackers will always probe the weaknesses in every system — including AI. Artificial intelligence is programmed by humans, and thus can still be defeated. While AI’s ability to synthesize and process information is impressive, it can only work as well as it was programmed to.

As hackers adjust to AI systems, human programmers will have to deploy new countermeasures. The cat and mouse game will continue, but AI forms a welcome reinforcement in the war to protect data.