Cybersecurity for Artificial Intelligence

Ethical Hackers Aren’t Just Pretty Faces; They Play Vital Roles in AI.

An introduction to the criticality of ethical hacking on artificial intelligence projects

Introduction

Ethical hacking is considered a sexy job, and cool appearances on social media, male or female, characterize ethical hackers as pretty faces. I don’t know about their private traits as depicted in media. However, ethical hackers are T-shaped experts professionally. T-shaped refers to covering both breadth and depth in cybersecurity. They possess broad security knowledge and technical specialty in several security domains. Ethical hacking is considered an antidote to criminal hacking.

I have been working with ethical hackers for many years in various digital transformation projects, particularly in the artificial intelligence field. These talented specialists helped me identify security risks at the earlier stages of the project lifecycle and mitigate those risks during the architecture and design phases. I always included ethical hackers in my design thinking workshops. They provided valuable thought leadership in the cybersecurity space.

Cybersecurity is crucial in digital transformation programs. Many of these programs include artificial intelligence projects. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to transform enterprise environments digitally without using artificial intelligence. Digital and artificial intelligence go hand in hand. Therefore, cybersecurity is embedded in enterprise-wide organizations’ vision, mission, strategy, and operational tactics.

Many aspects of technology, mainly related to an online business, require cybersecurity considerations. Cybersecurity has a particular concern for Cloud Computing, Internet of Things (IoT), Mobile computing, quantum computing, machine learning, and Big Data analytics services.

I authored several books about digital intelligence, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, Enterprise Architecture, and Business Architecture covering various computing and information technology aspects. Cybersecurity topped the importance list in those books covering at least one chapter.

In this essay, I want to highlight the significance of ethical hacking, specifically for cybersecurity requirements of artificial intelligence projects.

Criticality of Ethical Hacking in Cybersecurity Requirements of Artificial Intelligence Projects

In a previous article, I articulated my concerns about the risks of autonomous artificial intelligence super systems. The article included one of my memorable experiences for a remarkable cybersecurity incident that occurred in a central bank in the early 2000s.

Cybersecurity gets more complex due to unique strategies by criminal hackers. These eye-opening incidents make ethical hacking more compelling in the industry. Cybersecurity also covers privacy. I touched on the importance of privacy in an article related to APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) widely used across many enterprises globally.

Cybersecurity is a broad domain of security services in computing and information technology. The key focus areas of cybersecurity are authentication, authorization, identity, and access management. In addition, these broad categories include critical security processes such as password management, single sign-on, role management, user provisioning, directory services, accounting, auditing, and compliance reporting.

One of the emerging technologies empowering cybersecurity is blockchain. I introduced the compelling reasons for blockchain in this article titled: The Blockchain: Trust without Trusting. Blockchain is a promising technology process and constructs to address futuristic security concerns. Therefore, it should be part of any cybersecurity program. In addition to traditional cybersecurity measures, ethical hackers need to learn blockchain and help implement enterprise systems.

Ethical hacking is a business process aiming to identify vulnerabilities in the systems, tools, and solution building blocks of technology projects. The primary goal of ethical hacking is to find out vulnerabilities and create strategies to mitigate risks quickly. In addition, this process is also used in situation management when a system is hacked. So ethical hackers can create patches to fix immediate problems and prevent them from re-occurring.

Criminal hackers pose severe risks to society. They purposefully manipulate systems, tools, applications, data, information, knowledge, and digital assets. In addition, they steal money and dent the reputation of people and business organizations for various purposes. These ill-intentioned hackers also pose a threat to government and research institutes.

Contrary to criminal hackers, ethical hackers support and empower citizens and organizations. Ethical hackers improve system conditions, identify security risks, resolve security issues, address vulnerabilities quickly, and reduce the likelihood of security threats.

Ethical hackers wear many hats while undertaking these roles. They must be more knowledgeable and skillful than criminal hackers. Business, government, and research organizations hire these talented people to outsmart criminal hackers.

Ethical hackers use several open-source and propriety tools to assess the risks and resolve the issues. One of the critical tools they use is a sniffer. They are also known as packet analyzers which could be a piece of software or an appliance intercepting packets in the network. Packet analyzers capture network traffic in communication packet format.

Compliance is a critical security requirement for business and government organizations. Therefore, knowledge of industry and government compliance processes and requirements is vital for Ethical hackers. They support organizations to achieve industry compliance in their industries. Different organizations need to comply with various industry and government regulations.

For example, executives in the financial and banking industry hire ethical hackers to support them meeting industry regulations such as Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), Payment Services Directive (PSD2), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

The ethical hacking process covers several domains in digital transformation programs. The key domains are system architecture, solution design, industry compliance, traditional security, cybersecurity, analytics, technology planning, development, implementation, operational support, and business stakeholder management.

In my experience as a lead business and enterprise architect in multiple large business programs, ethical hackers served me as technical specialists. They quickly understood system architecture and design constructs. They were capable of seeing the big picture and promptly delving into details that were beyond my capabilities.

I collaborated with many ethical hackers who were well-versed in business processes, infrastructure services, application landscapes, integration services, data platforms, industry compliance, and digital consumption models.

The analytical skills of ethical hackers contributed to several artificial intelligence projects. Every component of an AI project required some sort of cybersecurity input. For example, they helped our team analyze AI systems, hosting infrastructures such as back-end Cloud systems, networks communications, AI solution design, AI business applications, AI data, and database systems.

Since ethical hackers know about programming and scripting, they quickly created or manipulated system code for patching vulnerable AI systems. In addition, their coding skills, accompanied by sniffing, scanning, vulnerability analysis, reverse engineering, disk and memory forensics, improved the security profile of AI solution building blocks.

Many ethical hackers I worked with understood proprietary and open-source operating systems such as Linux, Windows, Unix, ZoS, Android, macOS, and iOS hosting different AI systems and applications. Moreover, ethical hackers’ API knowledge and skills enabled us to integrate systems and applications hosted in heterogeneous technology landscapes securely.

Connectivity is critical in AI projects. Thus, the knowledge and skills of ethical hackers in networking and internetworking contributed to hardening security, especially in Internet communications. Ethical hackers supported network protocols, wireless protocols, network architecture, infrastructure frameworks, application patterns, network devices, network functions, network management tools, connectivity flows, mobile data communications, and integration of local and wide area networks to secure internet communications.

Big data is crucial for the successful implementation of AI projects. Simply, if no data, then no artificial intelligence happens. Ethical hackers are capable of dealing with data sets from various angles. They understand data platforms, data lakes, practices, storage, data ingestion, databases, and overall data lifecycle management. Their knowledge of big data analytics is precious for forensic AI investigations.

AI systems turn data into useful information and knowledge to add value to consumers. Therefore, information processing and expert knowledge systems are critical for AI projects. Ethical hackers also play a crucial role in optimizing and securing information and knowledge systems in AI projects.

AI projects use various emerging technologies such as IoT, Cognitive Computing, Mobile Computing, Cloud Computing, Edge Computing, and Fog Computing. All these technology domains are the ecosystem of AI programs. Ethical hackers can easily conceptualize protocols and device relationships among these technology constructs, review the security vulnerabilities and deploy agile solutions to harden security.

Conclusions

AI projects include many team members, including technical staff, executive sponsors, project managers, product managers, designers, architects, business analysts, business partners, subject matter experts, and even artists.

Therefore, ethical hackers need to work with this diverse set of talents closely. Most of the ethical hackers in my AI projects demonstrated excellent people and interpersonal skills. They guided team members for corrective actions without judging their ignorance.

Whenever team members experience a security challenge, the first go-to professional in the team is a dedicated, ethical hacker assigned to the AI project. Team members knew that security was the utmost priority for no compromise or negotiation despite the urgency of tasks.

AI projects, primarily when they are implemented urgently for customer consumption, face critical situations. Most of these situations are caused by security issues. Ethical hackers are always the first professionals assigned to support the necessary case during the critical situation management process.

You might think that ethical hackers are only for firefighting and troubleshooting. However, my experience might change your perceptions. In several AI projects, sponsoring executives hired ethical hackers to create new AI solutions encouraging them to innovate and invent. As a result, several ethical hackers created innovative solutions and patented security inventions in the AI space.

Cybersecurity is critical for AI projects. In my experience, engaging talented ethical hackers in all phases of the solution lifecycle is essential and valuable. Ethical hackers are excellent contributors in managing incidents, resolving problems, preventing security threats, and producing innovative and inventive solutions.

Thank you for reading my perspectives.

References

Artificial Intelligence Does Not Concern Me, but Artificial Super-Intelligence Frightens Me

Time to Re-Examine Deep Fake Technologies with Firmer Measures

Cybersecurity Gets More Complex Due to a Unique Strategy by Hackers

Lessons From FBI’s Recovery Of Colonial Pipeline’s DarkSide Bitcoins For Ransomware Attacks

Why Integrate Biotechnology & Information Technology Ethically for Optimal Outcomes

How Misuse of Technology Damages Our Physical and Mental Health

Digital Transformation Handbook for Solution Architects

About the Author

I am a technologist, postdoctoral researcher, author of several books, editor, and digital marketing strategist with four decades of industry experience.

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