Defense contractors now have more reason than ever to leverage AI for cybersecurity. 

AI Defined and Explored

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a broad computing concept that can mean different things to different people. When we think about AI, we often think of the more common applications, including machine learning, natural language processing, and speech recognition. Unfortunately, today's definition gets adulterated by a bit of marketing confusion. 

Any way you slice it, AI is here. Even the Department of Defense (DoD) has come out with a stance: 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to a machines' ability to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence – for example, recognizing patterns, learning from experience, drawing conclusions, making predictions, or taking action – whether digitally or as the smart software behind autonomous physical systems. 

 – Department of Defense AI Strategy, 2018 

Put simply, AI is the area of computer science that creates intelligent machines that can work and react like humans. So how does this apply to cybersecurity? Why should defense contractors be taking a closer look at AI-enabled tools? And how can defense contractors leverage AI for cybersecurity and CMMC?

AI Solutions and CMMC 

The DoD is releasing the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) in an ongoing effort to strengthen the collective security of the entire defense industry. Several versions have been released having major implications on defense contractors and their security programs. 

As soon as 2021, the DOD will begin including CMMC requirements in RFPs, thereby making compliance a contractual obligation. With these versions, DoD seeks to evolve the federal cybersecurity posture from a largely defensive and reactive stance to one of greater situational awareness and proactivity. 

As the world continues its digital transformation and becomes more reliant on technology, cyberattacks remain one of the biggest threats to defense contractors. Cybersecurity threats like ransomware, phishing, or IoT-based attacks that, with the advancement of technology, have grown in risk and severity in recent years are ever the concern. IoT will continue to proliferate, meaning the number of devices in the cloud is multiplying. 

Advancements in AI for cybersecurity may offer solutions to modern-day cyberattacks with encouraging outcomes. Defense contractors are finding more opportunities to harness AI for cybersecurity defense that include the use of Versive Security Engine (VSE) which leverages AI to separate critical risks from routine network activity, identifying chains of activities that result in attacks, and helps security teams get ahead of those attacks. Or the use of Cybersecurity analytics platform that provides threat monitoring, hunting and analysis. The use of AI-powered hunting technology determines whether or not an organization is under attack, automating the job so security teams of all sizes and skill levels can benefit.

AI-powered operations, security and automation solutions range depending on the industry, from cybersecurity and aviation to finance and manufacturing. So, when we were talking about AI and cybersecurity, what exactly are we talking about? It's a question being asked throughout the defense sector.

The Role of AI in Cybersecurity

The implementation of AI in cybersecurity solutions helps to identify new types of malware while protecting defense contractors from existing cyber threats. Compared to a human operator, AI can more efficiently analyze user behaviors, deduce patterns, and identify abnormalities in a network, making it much easier to identify cyber vulnerabilities quicker.  

In an age where technology advances at break-neck speeds, cybercriminals are finding new avenues to mount cyberattacks. For example, there are 31 billion IoT devices online today, and that number is projected to grow to 75 billion devices over the next five years. Cybercriminals will expand their focus from just hacking WiFi IoT devices to hacking IoT devices on cellular as the attack surface is growing.

What cybersecurity tasks is AI handling?  

Effective cybersecurity is about staying ahead of threats, so it makes sense that the CMMC would encourage defense contractors to transition from a defensive, reactive stance to a more proactive one. However, hundreds of thousands of new threats are identified every day.

The sheer volume of existing and potential threats are immeasurable—and this requires new technology fueling the growth in AI-enabled cybersecurity tools – from network monitoring and incident response to mitigation and remediation. 

AI-based cybersecurity systems can also help to establish practical security standards and develop better prevention and recovery strategies.

 Types of cybersecurity enhanced by AI-enabled solutions

• Password Protection and Authentication
• Malware Defense
• Phishing Detection
• Data Theft Protection
• IoT Attacks Prevention
• Ransomware protection
• Network Security
• Vulnerability Management
• Honeypot-based Social Engineering Defense (fake persona decoys used to entrap attackers)
• Context-aware Behavioral Analytics (unusual behavior could precipitate an attack)

Chasing cybercriminals is adversarial. There are far more bad guys and they collaborate better then ever. Cybercriminals only need a single attack to succeed, whereas the good guys need to defend against every attack to win.   

Cybercriminals have no rules, but AI, by its very essence, plays by rules. Data, the lifeblood of AI, dictates these rules with accuracy that increases over time and with data volume.

For defense contractors to succeed, there are simply not enough humans. 

Supplementing the skills gap in cybersecurity

A consistent new theme here is the tremendous amounts of data required to mount an effective cyber defense. This data volume is overwhelming to human operators who need to make snap decisions on how to interpret, understand, and respond to each potential incident.

With the cybersecurity field growing so fast, there remains a shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals to fill needed roles. A lack of experienced cyber experts coupled with the increasing volume and severity of attacks puts defense contractors in a sticky situation.

The misperception about what exactly AI-based security can actually do cannot derail the conversation. AI for cybersecurity is still a lot about enabling humans and automating low-level processing. It may increase human productivity, but it is nowhere near a point where it can replace cybersecurity personnel.

To bridge the skills gap, defense contractors should rely on AI-enabled cybersecurity tools to automate some of the security initiatives they already have in place. 

It's Simple - Cybersecurity Automation

In cybersecurity, AI is straightforward - it is a set of technologies that, applied in the context of cybersecurity, has the goal of cybersecurity automation. With a big push toward automating investigation and responses, AI improves an analyst's ability to pull together the right information in less time than having to find that information on their own.

Cybersecurity is a massive area of forced investment for defense contractors, and AI is fast becoming the trusted workhorse of many cybersecurity activities, from bridging the skills gap to threat detection to faster responses. By addressing the skills gap, these new capabilities make defense contractors' cybersecurity posture more robust and increasingly affordable. 

The path to CMMC certification is an investment, but defense contractors' CMMC spending is to be classified as an allowable cost. This means these organizations will have an opportunity to recover their CMMC expenses. 

With CMMC forcing organizations to become more mature and more proactive to be a supplier to DoD, defense contractors need to know how to apply AI technology to solve particular business problems and achieve CMMC compliance.

At this point, there are still some unknowns for what CMMC has in store, but the specific elements to which defense contractors will need to align are clear.  CMMC level 5 could be mostly based on a company's ability to leverage automation and AI.

Since DoD will begin including CMMC requirements in RFPs making compliance a contractual obligation, defense contractors should apply AI to improve cyber hygiene, shrink their attack surface, and support/remain compliant.

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