Any company or individual with an online presence needs to know about the importance of cybersecurity. If they ignore it, they’re probably allowing hackers to potentially access their sensitive data. That can cause a website crash, identity theft, and other issues.

Understanding AI’s significance in the cybersecurity field becomes vital for any company or private citizen wanting to stay safe online.

However, while you can already easily identify many ways companies and individuals use AI for cybersecurity, in the immediate future, these two concepts will only link together more closely.

Let’s talk about three ways AI will change the cybersecurity niche in the coming years.

Malware Analysis

If you look at what hackers try to do, you’ll see that they love malware. They like creating it and setting it loose in computer systems they want to compromise. They may also use it to steal sensitive data from any computer system that it infiltrates.

That’s one reason why companies and individuals require cybersecurity. They need to identify and block malware wherever it appears.

In the coming years, AI can do that for them. AI-infused algorithms can guard computer systems or suites of tools that individuals and companies use. They can analyze and identify new malware that emerges. This will help human security teams learn how to stay ahead of these threats.

Predictive Analytics

AI can also help individuals and companies with predictive analytics as a way of stopping hacker attacks. AI can look at historical patterns and data within a computer system. It can use that data to predict potential vulnerabilities.

If the AI can give human admins a comprehensive, detailed report that makes any potential weak points clear, then the admins can then take steps to shore up those points. In essence, the AI, by probing for weaknesses, can stop hacker attacks before they occur.

Think how useful this can become when companies or government entities try to stop foreign cyber operatives trying to shut down or cripple essential systems.

Proactive policing of security threats makes AI the perfect tool for both the present and future of the cybersecurity industry.

Automated Incident Response

You can also assume that in the near future, individuals and companies looking for more robust cybersecurity threat response can use AI for automated incident responses. It’s always possible that, despite the AI’s best efforts, an attack will come. The hacker responsible might even achieve system penetration.

The AI can automate a response to lock out the attacker. In the past, a human worker would need to do that. If a hacker manages to compromise a system, the AI can identify and isolate that system.

By doing so, it can trigger predefined actions and notify any relevant personnel.

This reduces both response time and manual workload that once would belong in a human worker’s purview.

That’s probably only a little bit of how humans will use AI to repel cybersecurity threats in the near future.