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Is Artificial Intelligence a Boon or Bane for Cybersecurity?

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10 months ago

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Written by Sergey Belov, Head of Internal Security at Acronis

AI stands at the forefront of innovations in online safety in 2024, transforming how organisations detect, analyse and respond to threats. Businesses across the Middle East are increasingly investing in AI, recognising its potential to enhance operations and safeguard digital assets through advanced security and data protection measures. By leveraging AI’s processing power, companies can bolster their defences, preemptively addressing threats before they escalate. However, while Artificial Intelligence offers significant benefits to businesses worldwide, its adoption also escalates the risk of potential attacks and security vulnerabilities.

Here are some ways Artificial Intelligence acts for and against cybersecurity:

Artificial Intelligence for Cybersecurity
Studies show that 91% of the businesses in UAE have employed AI in their cyber safety strategies to address the increase in threats today.

  • Threat detection and response: AI-enhanced security solutions utilise machine learning algorithms to analyse extensive data sets from various origins, aiding IT professionals in identifying and addressing cyber threats promptly.
  • Behavioural analysis: Tools powered by AI for behavioural analysis monitor the actions of users and systems to detect anomalies that may signal potential security risks.
  • Predictive analytics: AI and machine learning algorithms analyse past data to forecast future cyber protection trends and anticipate emerging threats.
  • Automation of routine tasks: AI-driven automation technologies streamline everyday safety operations, including threat detection, incident response, and vulnerability management, allowing security teams to concentrate more on strategic activities.

Artificial Intelligence Against Cybersecurity
As technology advances, so do the threats against it. In the Middle East, the cyber threat landscape is evolving rapidly, with targeted ransomware attacks, supply chain vulnerabilities and advanced phishing methods on the rise.

Recent data shows a 29.1% increase in malware detection and a 25.5% rise in blocked URLs, emphasising the urgency for robust security measures. To address these challenges it is important to be aware of the threats that reside in new technologies and identify the best plan of action against them.

  • Bias and discrimination: AI algorithms are susceptible to bias and discrimination, potentially leading to inaccurate decisions and unintended consequences. To mitigate these risks, organisations must ensure AI-driven cybersecurity systems are trained on diverse and representative datasets, thereby minimising bias and mitigating ethical and legal concerns.
  • False positives and negatives: AI-driven security systems may produce false positives (incorrectly identifying benign activities as malicious) or false negatives (failing to detect genuine security threats), resulting in either unnecessary alerts or missed opportunities leading to unnecessary alerts or missed opportunities to prevent security incidents.
  • Adversarial attacks: AI systems can be vulnerable to adversarial attacks, where malicious actors manipulate input data to evade detection by AI algorithms. Adversarial training and anomaly detection techniques can reduce these risks and ensure the resilience of systems depending on Artificial Intelligence.

Moreover, AI not only enhances threat detection but also empowers cybercriminals to execute sophisticated attacks. 73% of organisations in the UAE have experienced ransomware attacks in the past two years, underscoring the critical need for heightened vigilance.

Addressing the Challenges
To truly reap the benefits of emerging technology, companies must adopt a comprehensive approach to address the risks posed by them. This involves investing in AI-driven threat detection and prevention tools, employing advanced AI security measures, and continuously updating and refining their cyber protection strategies. Moreover, organisations should conduct regular training, attack simulations and awareness programs for their employees to stay prepared for the malicious usage of AI. Examples of malicious use of AI targeting employees include several concerning scenarios:

  1. Deepfakes: Deepfake techniques can be employed by attackers with minimal technical expertise. These can be created using software that is easily accessible through a simple Google search. Such deepfakes could be used to impersonate company executives in video calls, tricking employees into disclosing sensitive information or authorising fraudulent transactions.
  2. Phishing Scams: AI can be used to generate highly personalised phishing emails. By analysing publicly available data, AI can craft emails that appear to come from a trusted source within the company, making employees more likely to click on malicious links or download harmful attachments.
  3. Voice Spoofing: Similar to deepfakes, AI can be used to create realistic voice simulations. Attackers can use these to call employees, pretend to be someone they trust and manipulate them into revealing confidential information or performing certain actions that compromise security.
  4. Automated Social Engineering: AI can automate social engineering attacks by scraping social media and other online platforms to gather detailed profiles of employees. This information can then be used to craft convincing fake scenarios, gaining employees’ trust and leading them to inadvertently share sensitive company information.
  5. Fake News and Disinformation: AI-generated fake news or misinformation can be targeted at employees to influence their decisions or create unrest within the company. For example, spreading false rumours about company layoffs or financial instability can cause panic and disrupt normal operations.

These examples illustrate how easily accessible AI tools can be exploited by attackers to target employees and compromise organisational security. Companies must educate their employees about these threats and implement robust security measures to mitigate such risks. In addition to in-house security measures, companies should consider leveraging third-party security solutions to enhance the level of security, especially for addressing threats that are beyond their capabilities.

As we venture into the uncharted territories of Artificial intelligence, the potential of this technology is limitless. While we uncover new possibilities and leverage their benefits to enhance and protect our organisations, vigilance is crucial against its potential drawbacks. Finding the right balance and developing effective strategies is paramount in the ever-evolving landscape of security.

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Cloud

SentinelOne Simplifies Secure Cloud Migrations on AWS

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22 hours ago

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June 13, 2025

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SentinelOne today announced its participation in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Workload Migration Program. This initiative supports AWS Partner Network (APN) members with SaaS offerings on AWS to accelerate and streamline workload migrations.

Through the program, SentinelOne will provide AWS customers with accelerated, secure cloud migration support, leveraging modern AI-powered CNAPP capabilities to ensure rapid and protected transitions. With access to AWS funding, technical resources, and go-to-market support, SentinelOne will help organizations reduce migration timelines and costs while maintaining robust security.

SentinelOne’s Singularity Cloud Security delivers real-time visibility and protection throughout the migration journey—whether from on-premises or another cloud—enabling a secure, seamless transition to AWS.

“Through our participation in the AWS ISV Workload Migration Program, SentinelOne is helping customers accelerate secure cloud migrations with end-to-end protection and visibility,” said Ric Smith, President of Product, Technology, and Operations at SentinelOne. “Whether moving from on-prem or another cloud to AWS, organizations can count on us to deliver the security they need throughout their journey—realizing the performance, speed, agility, and cost benefits of the cloud.”

Singularity Cloud Security combines agentless and agent-based protection for deep visibility, continuous posture management, and real-time threat detection across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. By collaborating with AWS and ecosystem partners, SentinelOne ensures seamless integration into migration projects, helping customers move faster, reduce risk, and scale confidently in the cloud.

Availability: SentinelOne’s solutions are available globally.

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Cyber Security

Beyond Blocklists: How Behavioural Intent Analysis Can Safeguard Middle East Businesses from Rising AI-Driven Bot Threats

Published

4 days ago

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June 10, 2025

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The Middle East is facing an unprecedented surge in AI-driven bot attacks, with malicious automation now outpacing traditional defenses. Mohammad Ismail, Vice President for EMEA at Cequence Security, warns that legacy tools like IP blocklists and rate limiting are no match for today’s sophisticated threats (more…)

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Cyber Security

Sophos Boosts Firewall with New Protection and Incident Response Features

Published

4 days ago

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June 10, 2025

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Sophos has announced a significant update to its Sophos Firewall software, introducing enhanced protection and incident response capabilities. This update notably includes Sophos NDR Essential, a new feature now available free of charge to all customers holding an XStream Protection license for Sophos Firewall.

This integration empowers Sophos Firewall with two dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) engines specifically designed to detect both malware communications and those utilizing algorithmically generated domain names. This advanced functionality, derived from the Sophos Network Detection and Response (NDR) probe, aims to identify sophisticated malware communications even if they are previously unknown or not yet indexed. It serves as a powerful complement to the Active Threat Response capabilities already embedded within Sophos firewalls.

Chris McCormack, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Sophos

Addressing the technical demands of such advanced detection, Chris McCormack, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Sophos, explained the strategic approach, “NDR traffic analysis requires substantial processing power. That’s why we’ve adopted a new approach by deploying an NDR solution in Sophos Cloud to offload the heaviest tasks from the firewall.” This cloud-centric design ensures optimal performance without burdening the firewall’s on-device resources.

Beyond network detection, the update also brings significant improvements to connectivity and user authentication. Sophos Connect now integrates EntraID for Single Sign-On (SSO). This new feature for the VPN client, bundled with Sophos Firewall, is set to enhance both the security and user experience for SSL and IPsec VPN connections. The integration with EntraID (Azure AD) enables users to authenticate and leverage multi-factor authentication for both Sophos Connect and access to the user portal hosted by the firewall, streamlining secure access.

Further VPN-related enhancements include:

  • Improved user interface and usability: Connection types have been renamed for greater clarity, with “site-to-site” now referred to as “policy-based” and tunnel interfaces as “route-based,” making configurations more intuitive.
  • Dynamic validation of the IP address pool: For VPN connections (SSL VPN, IPsec, L2TP, and PPTP), the system now dynamically validates the allocated IP address pool, helping to better resolve potential IP address conflicts.
  • Strict profile enforcement: IPsec profiles now exclude default values to ensure algorithm synchronization, effectively eliminating potential fragmentation of session negotiation packets that could otherwise prevent site-to-site VPN tunnels from being established.
  • Route-based VPN and SD-RED scalability: The system has been optimized to support up to 3,000 simultaneously established tunnels. Specifically, Sophos Firewall solutions can now manage up to 1,000 SD-RED site-to-site tunnels and connect up to 650 concurrent SD-RED devices.

Additional management improvements enhance administrative flexibility and search capabilities:

  • More flexible DHCP Prefix Delegation (IPv6 DHCP-PD): The system now supports a broader range of prefixes, from /48 to /64, improving compatibility with various internet service providers.
  • Router Advertisement (RA) and DHCPv6 server: These features are now enabled by default, simplifying IPv6 network setup.
  • Resizable table columns: The web admin interface continues its adaptation for ultra-wide screens, with many configuration pages now allowing users to resize columns as needed for improved usability.
  • Enhanced object search functionality: The search field within the SD-WAN routing configuration screen now supports more granular criteria, including route name, ID, objects, and object values like IP addresses and domains. Similarly, local ACL rules now also support object name and value searches, extending to content-based searches for more precise results.
  • Default configuration changes: To streamline initial setups, default firewall rules and rule groups previously created during new firewall deployments have been removed. The initial configuration now only includes the default network rule and MTA rules. Furthermore, the default firewall rule group and the default gateway probe for custom gateways are now set to “None” by default.

Sophos continues its commitment to cybersecurity through a “Secure by Design” approach, enhancing the intrinsic security of its firewalls. This methodology involves the containerization of specific features and rigorous integrity checks on critical operating system files using mathematical checksums. Any detected checksum mismatch triggers a potential compromise alert, enabling monitoring teams to proactively identify possible security incidents affecting the firewall OS integrity. This proactive detection allows incident response and development teams to react swiftly to critical security events.

This update is now available for manual download and deployment by customers with any Sophos Firewall equipped with a valid license.

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