Course: Future of Work

Point Paper: AI and Big data

Submitted to: Prof. Siddhartha Saxena

Submitted by: Dhwani Ghoda, iMBA-122

 Can AI help curb the security barrier of Big Data?

Big data can be defined as any voluminous set of data which is difficult to manage by
any traditional analysis tools. This data is mostly semi-structured or unstructured
produced as a result of the human activity on social media sites, stock exchanges,
geographical data generated through jet engines, output returned by search engines,
monitoring devices etc.

Big Data is considered as the lifeline of many organization, as businesses generate

variety of information at a faster velocity each day; from customer walk-ins to
stakeholder details, which an organization does not want to be public. Such information
when hacked can tarnish the reputation of an organization. 1

As the variety and volume of data sources increases multi-fold, the vulnerability of data
security increases too. It becomes hard to identify whether the data source is malicious or not
when there are multiple number of sources from which data is collected. As Rob Thomas,
the general manager of IBM Analytics rightly quoted, “There is no AI (Artificial
Intelligence) without IA—Information Architecture,”2 It becomes evident that the utmost need
for any company is to invest in the infrastructure to store the enormous data so that AI can live
up to the promise of providing quality insights and solving security and privacy problems.

Artificial intelligence is a technology that tries to implement the decision mechanism similar
to a human brain in the machines. Artificial Intelligence in data security can be the next
go-to technology that can help organizations in eliminating this major barrier of big
data i.e. privacy and security (See exhibit 1)

1
Joshi, N. (2018, 03 15). The growing role of AI and ML in data security. Retrieved from
Allerin: https://www.allerin.com/blog/the-growing-role-of-ai-and-ml-in-data-security

2
Bellile, B. (2019, 02 13). Why you can’t have AI without ‘information architecture’.
Retrieved from Silicon Angle: https://siliconangle.com/2019/02/13/cant-ai-without-
information-architecture-think2019/
 Exhibit 1: Benefits AI provides to solve security issues of Big Data

Categorization of the level of risk

by scanning through systems

Can keep a track of the threats

Reduces time to identify and and attackers due to its
solve the threat AI for Big capability of lerning from
data algorithms

Need for human intevention or

action is passed to the user

Benefits AI provides to solve security issues of Big Data

1. Past data to identify the pattern: The problem with big data is shifting from collection aspect
to turning the data into a meaningful knowledge that can lead to managerial decisions. AI
can help the organizations in interpreting big data more easily as compared to humans as it
maintains records of all previous data attacks as well as any suspicious activity can be easily
recognised. Thus as AI learns from the algorithms, it has the capability to predict the
probable cyber threats.
2. Reduces time: Also the time consumed to detect the security issues is minimised by AI
applications. It gives the leverage to the system to automatically identify detect and manage
the threat and solve them by the automated solutions.
3. Categorization of risk: It can help the businesses in categorising the security risks and cyber-
attacks according to the level of harm they can cause to the company.
4. Determining the need for human intervention: AI can also prompt the user if the security
breach is crucial and cannot be resolved by AI itself. This will help organizations is better
risk management.
Examples of Companies using it

1. DeepInstinct, an AI company working in the areas of cyber security has achieved success
in identifying malware files with a slight variation of 2% to 10%. This has been made
possible due to its technologies like Deep Learning, Data Training, and Predictive Analytics.

2. IBM QRadar, an advisor powered by Watson, assists businesses in detecting threats at an

earlier stages of the attack by unearthing hidden risks and availing insights. 3

3. NormShield provides Cyber Risk Scorecard to the companies to access Hacktivist posts that
target their company in dark forums or social media, any Leaked information about their
company’s customers and employees. (E-mail, passwords, credit card information etc.) and
Phish website, mobile and desktop applications existing about their company4

Conclusion:

This shows that there is more scope of Integration of Artificial Intelligence with advanced
algorithms and data models to can help in identifying potential data threats and eliminating
them before confidential data of the companies is compromised. It can emerge as a significant
technology in solving the security problems looming over Big Data in near future.

3
Kalra, A. (2018, 07 02). Daunting challenges of data security and privacy & how AI comes
to rescue. Retrieved from Analytics India: https://www.analyticsindiamag.com/daunting-
challenges-of-data-security-and-privacy-how-ai-comes-to-rescue/

4
(NormShield Blog). Retrieved from NormShield: https://www.normshield.com/cyber-
security-with-artificial-intelligence-in-10-question/