Automation
Pixabay

At a time when cyberattacks of all kinds are expanding in volume and sophistication, business security teams need a toolkit that enables them to stay ahead of malicious actors. It's harder than ever to defend business systems when data is sprawling and attack surfaces are expanding. Ever-changing compliance requirements are also ratcheting up the pressure.

Meanwhile, the rapid adoption of AI is opening up new vulnerabilities from unexpected directions. Public-use AI platforms like ChatGPT have been known to leak sensitive information, while threat actors are using AI to ramp up their own attacks. It's little wonder that a recent survey by DarkTrace found that 60% of security leaders think their organizations are ill-prepared for AI-powered threats.

Automation is a critical pillar for any effective cybersecurity toolkit, bringing new capabilities that contribute to improved protection, with faster response times and fewer errors than human teams are capable of on their own. The DarkTrace report notes that while just 15% of security stakeholders think that traditional methods can cope with AI-powered threats, they have far greater faith in AI-powered and automated solutions.

It's time to find smart ways to use automation for good, before malicious actors use it against you.

Continuous monitoring for security controls

Your security policies and controls are all that stand between your extensive attack surface and the malicious actors eager to break through. They ensure that every element is configured correctly, your defenses are working as they should be, and that you're meeting all the requirements of your compliance frameworks.

Frameworks like GDPR, PCI DSS, and HIPAA provide structured guidelines and best practices for securing data and managing risks, so compliance is an important step towards ensuring business continuity and preventing damaging data breaches. For example, GDPR mandates stringent data protection measures; HIPAA requires data confidentiality, integrity, and availability; and PCI DSS sets standards for securing payment card information.

Cyber GRC platform Cypago offers an automated continuous monitoring solution that verifies that all these protections are active and in position, all the time. It automatically collects data from across your ecosystem, checks it against your security programs and compliance frameworks, and provides early alerts about anomalies or vulnerabilities.

Once you've used it to ensure all your controls align with the compliance frameworks most relevant to your company, the platform monitors every aspect of your security posture for changes and gaps, including data security, identity access, and the software development lifecycle.

Precise filtering to block phishing attempts

As security controls become more sophisticated, humans remain the weakest link. Phishing is an increasing threat, with attackers using GenAI to design more convincing scams. In a recent study, 81% of security professionals cited it as their top security risk, indicating that limiting outsider threats like phishing and malware is their highest-priority cybersecurity initiative.

This makes email security crucial. Alongside ongoing employee education, organizations should implement an automated solution that uses natural language processing (NLP) to spot suspicious emails and attempted account takeovers.

Some services even use learning loops to minimize false positives over time. Next-gen phishing protection also automatically blocks unauthorized access, and quarantines suspected phishing emails so they can be assessed with care.

Proactive defense against website impersonation scams

Bad actors are using AI to create sophisticated fake versions of your company's website, to scam your customers into revealing personal information or paying for counterfeit goods. Fairly or not, customers will blame your company for the scam. This can damage brand reputation and customer loyalty, and cause people to wonder if your actual marketing presence is genuine.

AI-based tools like Memcyco use automation to proactively detect the creation of a fake website in real time. It sends an alert to your company, as well as a popup warning to customers who inadvertently visit the fake site. If a customer does enter their details into the fake site, you'll get an instant notification, so you can address the issue as soon as possible.

The solution also provides complete information about the attack, including details like contextualized forensics to identify the attacker and the impact on individual victims. This empowers you to limit the fallout and duration of any website scam, and prevent serious harm from website impersonation attacks on both your company and your customers.

Uncovering shadow IT and shadow AI

Shadow IT is a serious issue. It refers to employees using SaaS tools without your knowledge, leaving you unaware of which platforms have access to your systems and data.

The issue is now spreading to encompass shadow AI, where employees use publicly-available GenAI tools without organizational approval or oversight. These platforms often have significant security weaknesses. Many retain user data for model training purposes, raising the risk of inadvertent data leakage, theft of intellectual property, or vulnerabilities that threat actors can use to penetrate your systems.

The best way to combat these threats is through automation. AI-powered solutions can constantly scan employee tech use to detect unauthorized tools and map every instance of shadow technology. Newer solutions include shadow AI mapping alongside existing shadow IT detection capabilities.

Cross-vector data analysis

Threats are evolving at a rapid rate, so your defenses can't remain static. You need to continuously and proactively scan your ecosystem, so you know what could arrive and can adapt your strategies, investigation, and response times through security analysis.

It's best done using unsupervised ML algorithms that can track traffic patterns to set a baseline for normal, and flag deviations that indicate true anomalies. You need to include every possible vector, because there's no way to know where the next threat will arise or what shape it will take.

Extended detection and response (XDR) solutions like Trend Micro's Trend Vision One can automatically collect and correlate data across multiple security layers, including email, IoT devices, servers, cloud workloads, and networks. The platform can spot anomalous behavior, verify the presence of a threat, and correlate low-confidence events to reveal complex, multi-layered attacks. Automated response capabilities take immediate action to mitigate an attempted attack, like isolating networks or revoking access, so there's no risk of an attack continuing unchecked for hours.

Automation is a vital weapon in the cybersecurity war

Today's organizations face more threats than ever before – in terms of volume, vectors, and sophistication. Cybersecurity teams need all the help they can get to keep ahead of the whirlwind of attacks and threats. Automation is a key element in improving existing security solutions. New, advanced applications can level the playing field against malicious actors and restore confidence in your organization's security.