Introduction to Artificial Adversarial Intelligence
If you’ve watched cartoons like Tom and Jerry, you’ll recognize a common theme: An elusive target avoids his formidable adversary. This game of “cat-and-mouse” — whether literal or otherwise — involves pursuing something that ever-so-narrowly escapes you at each try. In a similar way, evading persistent hackers is a continuous challenge for cybersecurity teams. To combat this, MIT researchers are working on an AI approach called “artificial adversarial intelligence” that mimics attackers of a device or network to test network defenses before real attacks happen.
Understanding Artificial Adversarial Intelligence
Artificial adversarial intelligence plays the role of a cyber attacker by mimicking the behavior of human attackers. It uses AI and machine learning to design cyber agents that can hack into code, choose the right tool for their target, and make decisions based on the information they gather. This type of intelligence is adversarially-oriented, meaning it is designed to outsmart and outmaneuver cyber defenses. On the other hand, artificial adversarial intelligence can also portray a cyber defender by designing detectors, processing system logs, triggering alerts, and triaging them into incident response systems.
Examples of Artificial Adversarial Intelligence in Everyday Life
Artificial adversarial intelligence has been used in many ways to ensure cybersecurity. For example, machine learning has been used to filter out threats, detect anomalous behavior, and recognize kinds of malware. AI-enabled triage systems can also help to stay ahead of threat actors. Additionally, AI-enabled cyber attackers can be used to test network defenses and anticipate what countermeasures may be used when taking measures to defend ourselves.
Adapting to New Risks
New software releases and new configurations of systems can pose new risks, such as vulnerabilities that attackers can target. These may be examples of weaknesses in code that are already documented, or they may be novel. To adapt to these new risks, artificial adversarial intelligence can be used to design smarter and smarter adversarial agents that can keep us on our toes and help us practice defending our cyber assets.
The Importance of Artificial Adversarial Intelligence
Artificial adversarial intelligence is important because it can help to stay ahead of threat actors and protect us from cyber threats. By mimicking the behavior of human attackers, artificial adversarial intelligence can help to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in cyber defenses. Additionally, artificial adversarial intelligence can be used to design more effective cyber defenses and to anticipate what countermeasures may be used when taking measures to defend ourselves.
Conclusion
In conclusion, artificial adversarial intelligence is a powerful tool that can be used to protect us from cyber threats. By mimicking the behavior of human attackers, artificial adversarial intelligence can help to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in cyber defenses. Additionally, artificial adversarial intelligence can be used to design more effective cyber defenses and to anticipate what countermeasures may be used when taking measures to defend ourselves. As technology continues to evolve, artificial adversarial intelligence will play an increasingly important role in keeping us safe from cyber threats.
