It’s not just ordinary people spending more time on computers and devices, but thieves too. Instead of robbing us of our data and our assets with physical weapons, criminals use digital weapons like Trojans, ransomware, and spyware to steal our money, data, and sometimes our identity. The new breed of malicious software they deploy usually evades traditional antivirus tools.
Miscreants also use network vulnerabilities to attack us on WiFi networks, deepfake technology to blackmail us with doctored pictures, phishing expeditions to run scams, and much more. Fortunately, we’re also using technology to fight back.
Machine Learning Cybersecurity Software
You probably know that conventional antivirus software detects threats by scanning for known signatures. However, this technique doesn’t work against newer, sneakier malware that may not have established signatures. Here is where Machine Learning (ML) comes in. Intelligent antivirus software stops malware like computer viruses, worms, rootkits, ransomware, and more by relying on ML to find threatening behavior.
AI-Powered Biometrics
Biometrics technology is challenging for hackers to breach because it uses unique biological features like our irises, faces, voices, and fingerprints for security. Of course, processing all the data isn’t simple. That’s why biometric tools utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze countless samples and evaluate the correct one.
CAPTCHA
Bots are zombie computers that do a threat actor’s bidding. When an army of bots gets together, it’s called a botnet. A dangerous and large botnet can attack websites to take them offline by overloading them with traffic in Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. Fortunately, websites can fight back with CAPTCHA.
If you’ve ever had to type characters from a picture in order to log into your account, you know how it works. This innovative challenge-response system can mitigate the risk of DoS attacks by blocking bots. It can also stop other automated attacks like brute force attacks, which hackers can use to break password security.
Virtual Private Network (VPN) Technology
Although VPN adoption is snowballing worldwide, many people are still unfamiliar with the technology. So here it is in a nutshell: A VPN is a private network that hides IP addresses by masking them with virtual ones, and it shields data by encrypting it.
A VPN is helpful because cybercriminals can direct scams, hacks, and brute-force attacks at your actual IP address. They can also use your IP address to dox you or swat you. A VPN also makes public WiFi safer by protecting your network. However, free VPNs are not as trustworthy as pay-to-use Virtual Private Networks that leverage the latest technology like WireGuard to offer the best security.
Deepfake Detection
Deepfake technology allows people to create fairly convincing fake videos that combine two segments from two videos. Although people on social media use deepfake for entertainment, there are concerns that the technology will help cybercriminals as it becomes more sophisticated. For example, the FBI has issued a deepfake fraud warning, saying that threat actors will most certainly use it for high-level scams. Fortunately, companies like Facebook, in partnership with Michigan State University, are coming to the rescue with artificial intelligence to identify deepfakes.
With hackers using state-of-the-art technology to threaten our security, we must defend ourselves with the best countermeasures built on even better software.
