Based in Westminster, the RUSI is the world’s oldest think tank on international defence and security. Founded in 1831 by the first Duke of Wellington, Sir Arthur Wellesley, the RUSI remains a highly respected institution that’s as relevant today as ever.

AI is rapidly advancing the capabilities of adversaries. In its report, the RUSI says that hackers – both state-sponsored and independent – are likely to use AI for cyberattacks on the web and political systems.

Adversaries “will undoubtedly seek to use AI to attack the UK”, the RUSI notes.

Threats could emerge in a variety of ways. Deepfakes, which use a neural network to generate convincing fake videos and images, are one example of a threat already being posed today. With the US elections coming up, there’s concerns deepfakes of political figures could be used for voter manipulation.

AI could also be used for powerful new malware which mutates to avoid detection. Such malware could even infect and take control of emerging technologies such as driverless cars, smart city infrastructure, and drones.

The RUSI believes that humans will struggle to counter AI threats alone and will need the assistance of automation.

“Adoption of AI is not just important to help intelligence agencies manage the technical challenge of information overload,” said Alexander Babuta, one of the report’s authors. “It is highly likely that malicious actors will use AI to attack the UK in numerous ways, and the intelligence community will need to develop new AI-based defence measures.”

GCHQ, the UK’s service which focuses on signals intelligence , commissioned the RUSI’s independent report. Ken McCallum, the new head of MI5 – the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence and security agency – has already said that greater use of AI will be one of his priorities.

The RUSI believes AI will be of little value for “predictive intelligence” to do things such as predicting when a terrorist act is likely to occur before it happens. Highlighting counter-terrorism specifically, the RUSI says such cases are too infrequent to look for patterns compared to other criminal acts. Reasons for terrorist acts can also change very quickly dependent on world events.

All of this raises concerns about the automation of discrimination. The RUSI calls for more of an “augmented” intelligence – whereby technology assists sifting through large amounts of data, but decisions are ultimately taken by humans – rather than leaving it all up to the machines.

In terms of global positioning, the RUSI recognises the UK’s strength in AI with talent emerging from the country’s world-leading universities and capabilities in the GCHQ, bodies like the Alan Turing Institute, the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, and even more in the private sector.

While it’s widely-acknowledged countries like the US and China have far more resources overall to throw at AI advancements, the RUSI believes the UK has the potential to be a leader in the technology within a much-needed ethical framework. However, they say it’s important not to be too preoccupied with the possible downsides.

“There is a risk of stifling innovation if we become overly-focused on hypothetical worst-case outcomes and speculations over some dystopian future AI-driven surveillance network,” argues Babuta.

“Legitimate ethical concerns will be overshadowed unless we focus on likely and realistic uses of AI in the short-to-medium term.”

You can find a copy of the RUSI’s full report here (PDF)

(Photo by Chris Yang on Unsplash)

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The concept sounds similar to Fetch.ai in that decentralised autonomous AI agents will collaborate in order to achieve common goals.

Cambridge-based Fetch.ai is focusing its efforts on the use of autonomous AI agents for IoT purposes. Naturally, F-Secure is currently seeking to use such agents to further improve the company’s detection and response capabilities.

Matti Aksela, F-Secure’s VP of AI, believes there’s a common misconception that “advanced” AI should mimic human intelligence (known as AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence).

“People’s expectations that ‘advanced’ machine intelligence simply mimics human intelligence is limiting our understanding of what AI can and should do,” says Aksela.

“Instead of building AI to function as though it were human, we can and should be exploring ways to unlock the unique potential of machine intelligence, and how that can augment what people do.”

On average, experts surveyed in 2017 estimate there’s a 50 percent chance AGI will be achieved by 2060. However, there’s a significant difference of opinion based on geography: Asian respondents expect AGI in 30 years, whereas North Americans expect it in 74 years.

The development of autonomous agents, like those pursued by F-Secure and Fetch.ai, should happen at a much faster pace.

F-Secure believes its own project will take several years to reach its full potential but some on-device intelligence mechanisms are already being used for the company’s breach-detection solutions.

While it’s not quite AGI, the individual traits each agent possesses should still provide very advanced capabilities when combined. This is most easily thought of as much like a team of humans working towards a common goal.

Indeed, Project Blackfin takes inspiration from natural phenomena. Swarm intelligence can be observed across nature such as schools of fish or ant colonies.

Rather than create a single centralised AI model to provide instructions, F-Secure says the AI agents would be intelligent and powerful enough to communicate and work together.

“Essentially, you’ll have a colony of fast local AIs adapting to their own environment while working together, instead of one big AI making decisions for everyone,” Aksela explains.

In the case of F-Secure, each of its agents learns from observing their local hosts and networks. These observations are then further augmented by the wider network of agents spanning various industries and organisations.

F-Secure highlights that another benefit of this approach is that it also helps organisations avoid sharing confidential, potentially sensitive information via the cloud or product telemetry.

“Looking beyond detecting breaches and attacks, we can envision these fleets of AI agents monitoring the overall health, efficiency, and usefulness of computer networks, or even systems like power grids or self-driving cars,” says Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure Chief Research Officer.

“But most of all, I think this research can help us see AI as something more than just a threat to our jobs and livelihoods.”

F-Secure plans to publish research, findings, and updates as they occur. More information on Project Blackfin is available here.

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The reality is AI can or will — at least theoretically — at some point exceed humans’ capabilities, which makes it simultaneously exciting and terrifying. As it stands, AI is far from becoming truly ‘artificially intelligent’ and has a long way to go in developing both emotional and logical intelligence beyond data analytics.

Cyber warfare

Cybercriminals are always quick to exploit the latest in technology and AI is no exception. We are already facing a cybercrime pandemic and this will worsen during 2019 as cybercriminals become more sophisticated and organised. Cybercrime is no longer the domain of lone hackers, it has become a huge business with sophisticated operating models and low barrier to entry.

The organisation of cybercrime is now so extensive that wannabe cybercriminals don’t have to be technical experts. AI allows them to use very targeted, automated tools and these may even learn as they go, getting incrementally better at causing harm. It’s becoming more common for malware to contain nasty surprises such as sleep timers that cause it to open minutes or even days after the file has been declared safe, or the ability to detect and respond to mouse movements.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with limited security resources are likely to be most vulnerable. However, everyone is at risk as AI-powered crypto-viruses and other forms of malware proliferate and are deployed with pinpoint accuracy.

AI warfare, which is effectively industrial or political espionage, or competitive intelligence gathering enacted by computer intelligence, is another rising threat. Even the German parliament has fallen victim to this. The implications for AI warfare between businesses are substantial and 2019 is likely to see many ramp up their cybersecurity arrangements to combat it.

The biggest lesson to be drawn from this is that many traditional security measures are no longer good enough. AI works like the human brain: it learns, it develops, and it grows. No firewall or out-of-the-box virus checker can compete with that. In 2019 we must all move on.

AI for good

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) will become more widespread in 2019, thanks to the superior protection that it offers against AI-based threat.

ATP provides real-time monitoring and protection of the network, which is crucial when threats are increasing, frequently novel, able to infiltrate and spread within a network at lightning speed and incredibly difficult to get rid of. The need is to detect and silo threats before they have any chance to deploy.

Businesses can’t afford to wait for their firewall or virus checker’s next upgrade if the threat is in the here and now. Real-time protection and surveillance is all-important.

Cloud computing, combined with a more virtuous application of AI, gives ATP another edge. Machine learning allows it to understand and thus detect evolving threats. The more data it has (drawn from the business or businesses using it), the better it does. Cloud computing allows this knowledge to be aggregated and shared, creating an ATP that gets better by the hour.

ATP — previously a specialist tool — will move into the mainstream this year.

Sandboxing is a crucial part of ATP, but not all sandboxes are the same. The best now watch activity at the processor instruction level, detecting and blocking malware (including zero-day events) before it is deployed. What’s more, current sandboxes use the power of AI to share information with cloud-based ATP and associated networks, so intelligence is quickly shared, and everybody benefits, almost immediately, from better protection.

As a result, the firewall is more or less obsolete and sandboxes (and wider ATP systems) are rapidly replacing it. That change will accelerate during this year.

Implications of applying AI

For SMBs, the growth of AI and its potential applications for both good and ill demand a move to the cloud.

Local security solutions just don’t cut it any more: businesses desperately need the protection of ATP and sandboxing, but they need cloud because that’s where meaningful volumes of data are aggregated, and protection evolves as a result.

AI cross-checks inputs and events to understand threats more fully. Systems can then make meaningful predictions and mitigate threats effectively in real-time using machine learning. Just like human understanding, the protective system learns and grows.

When this type of machine learning is applied to an ATP system, everybody who is protected by that system benefits from the threats that they — and others — have already dealt with. That learning might have occurred a year, a week, a day or even ten minutes ago: AI can use all of it, fast.

While we aren’t quite at the point of no return or where ATP and sandboxing will replace all other security measures, there’s no doubt in time they will. For now, savvy organisations are using such tools alongside other solutions where required.

The reality is that the majority of SMBs may be cautious of embracing new technological innovations due to the increasing threat of cybercrime. Just one successful malware attack can bring enough financial, reputational and legal damage to terminate a business. But with cybercriminals leveraging AI to evolve their own skills set, businesses of all sizes must also do so to create efficiencies and strengthen network defences with advanced, cloud-based and above all, AI-driven security. It is not all doom and gloom. The future is looking far brighter for business than it is for the cybercriminals.

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It’s become a cliché metaphor, but people are still concerned a self-thinking killer AI like SkyNet from the film Terminator will be created.

McAfee CTO Steve Grobman spoke at this year’s RSA conference in San Francisco and warned the wrong humans in control of powerful AIs are his company’s primary concern.

To provide an example of how AIs could be used for good or bad purposes, Grobman handed over to McAfee Chief Data Scientist Dr Celeste Fralick.

Fralick explained how McAfee has attempted to predict crime in San Francisco using historic data combined with a machine learning model. The AI recommends where police could be deployed to have the best chance of apprehending criminals.

Most law-abiding citizens would agree this is a positive use of AI. However, in the hands of criminals it could be used to pinpoint where to commit a crime and have the best chance of avoiding capture.

In another demo at the conference, Fralick showed a video where his words were being spoken by Grobman in an example of a ‘DeepFake’.

“I used freely available, recorded public comments by you to create and train a machine learning model that let me develop a deepfake video with my words coming out of your mouth,” Fralick explained. “It just shows one way that AI and machine learning can be used to create massive chaos.

DeepFakes are opening up wide range of new threats including fraud through impersonation. Another is the potential for blackmail, with sexually-explicit fakes being threatened to be released to embarass an individual.

“We can’t allow fear to impede our progress, but it’s how we manage the innovation that is the real story,” Grobman concluded.

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With the help of a proprietary machine-learning engine, BluVector detects, analyses, and contains a wide range of sophisticated cyber-threats including “fileless malware,” zero-day malware and ransomware. Both companies will work together to grow BluVector’s existing business and will also collaborate on the development of new cybersecurity technologies.

BluVector announced that Eric Malawer, a veteran leader with over two decades of experience in data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), national intelligence and digital security, has been named CEO of BluVector and will lead the company as it grows its business as part of Comcast.

Prior to this, Malawer had served as cybersecurity staff director for the House Committee on Homeland Security and has also launched three AI and security companies. BluVector’s founding CEO Kris Lovejoy, who resigned to assume another role, will continue to serve as an advisor and consultant to BluVector and Comcast. Noopur Davis, chief information security officer at Comcast, will lead the process of identifying opportunities to leverage the companies’ combined technology and expertise to support new products and initiatives.

BluVector has won a various cybersecurity industry awards and recognition for its innovation and unique technological approach.

Elsewhere, another AI-powered company is ready to enter into a definitive agreement for acquisition. Juniper Networks, an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mist Systems, a pioneer in cloud-managed wireless networks powered by AI. The deal will develop Juniper’s enterprise networking portfolio by combining Mist’s next-generation Wireless LAN (WLAN) platform with Juniper’s best-in-class wired LAN, SD-WAN and security solutions to deliver incomparable end-to-end user and IT experiences. Under the terms of the agreement, the acquisition will take place for aggregate consideration of $405 million, subject to adjustment, payable in cash and the assumption of outstanding equity awards.

 Attend the co-located AI & Big Data Expo events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam to learn more. Co-located with the IoT Tech Expo, , and Cyber Security & .

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The station, Q13, broadcasted a doctored Trump speech in which he somehow appeared even more orange and pulled amusing faces.

You can see a side-by-side comparison with the original below:

Following the broadcast, a Q13 employee was sacked. It’s unclear if the worker created the clip or whether it was just allowed to air.

The video could be the first DeepFake to be televised, but it won’t be the last. Social media provides even less filtration and enables fake clips to spread with ease.

We’ve heard much about sophisticated disinformation campaigns. At one point, the US was arguably the most prominent creator of such campaigns to influence foreign decisions.

Russia, in particular, has been linked to vast disinformation campaigns. These have primarily targeted social media with things such as their infamous Twitter bots.

According to Pew Research, just five percent of Americans have ‘a lot of trust’ in the information they get from social media. This is much lower than in national and local news organisations.

It’s not difficult to imagine an explosion in doctored videos that appear like they’re coming from trusted outlets. Combining the reach of social media with the increased trust Americans have in traditional news organisations is a dangerous concept.

While the Trump video appears to be a bit of fun, the next could be used to influence an election or big policy decision. It’s a clear example of how AI is already creating new threats.

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Those who follow cybersecurity will likely be unsurprised at the list, but Avast goes into the specifics of each threat.

“This year, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web. Fast forward thirty years and the threat landscape is exponentially more complex, and the available attack surface is growing faster than it has at any other point in the history of technology,” commented Ondrej Vlcek, President of Consumer at Avast.

“People are acquiring more and varied types of connected devices, meaning every aspect of our lives could be compromised by an attack. Looking ahead to 2019, these trends point to a magnification of threats through these expanding threat surfaces.”

Adversarial AI

AI has primarily been used to aid in general tasks, or in the cybersecurity realm to recognise and defend against evolving threats. That is now changing as AI goes on the offense.

Avast predicts a greater number of ‘DeepAttacks’ in 2019. These new attacks, which began last year, use AI to generate convincing media to evade security controls or fool human users.

One example of a DeepAttack was the creation of a fake video showing former President Obama delivering sentences. The video was created for demonstrative purposes by Buzzfeed without malicious intent.

Some will use DeepAttacks to pretend to be people they’re not, potentially convincing unaware victims to hand over bank details or perform tasks.

As seen with the ‘DeepFakes’ trend of using AI to create adult videos featuring celebrity faces, similar videos could also be used to blackmail or embarrass people from all walks of society.

Evolving IoT threats

The Internet of Things (IoT) has already caused major problems – from botnets such as Mirai, to hackers virtually entering people’s homes.

Manufacturers often continue to prioritise getting new products out-the-door before competitors and security remains a dangerous afterthought.

Avast’s research has found manufacturers also overlook security to keep their costs low. In the coming year, Avast believes we’ll see IoT malware evolve similar to how PC and mobile did.

Fake Mobile Apps

Speaking of mobile threats, Avast foresees a continued growth of fake apps containing malware attempting to make their way onto users’ devices.

With some developers choosing to avoid official app stores, as we saw with Epic Games’ decision with Fortnite on Android, this provides an even greater potential for hackers to infect devices.

That doesn’t mean sticking to official stores guarantees safety. Avast flagged several fake apps which appeared even on the Google Play Store.

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The company has sponsored a competition on Kaggle which challenges data scientists to create models which predict if a device is likely to become infected with malware given a current machine state.

In a blog post, Microsoft wrote:

“The competition provides academics and researchers with varied backgrounds a fresh opportunity to work on a real-world problem using a fresh set of data from Microsoft.

Results from the contest will help us identify opportunities to further improve Microsoft’s layered defenses, focusing on preventative protection.

Not all machines are equally likely to get malware; competitors will help build models for identifying devices that have a higher risk of getting malware so that preemptive action can be taken.”

Participants are supplied with 9.4GB of anonymised data gathered from 16.8M devices to build their models.

A pot of $25,000 prize money will be used to incentivise participation spread out as:

• 1st Place – $12,000
• 2nd Place – $7,000
• 3rd Place – $3,000
• 4th Place – $2,000
• 5th Place – $1,000

The best performing entry, thus far, has achieved 68.9 percent accuracy – though it’s likely this will be improved before the end.

Entries must be submitted before the competition closes on March 13, 2019.

You can find out more and enter on Kaggle here.

 AI & >.

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As AI systems continue to develop and advance, the possibilities for AI solutions are endless. While AI technology is already integrated into our daily lives through products such as Siri, Netflix, Pandora and more, there are several uses of AI technology that are still being developed. Here are four AI use cases that businesses can look forward to adopting and benefiting from within the near future.

Improved commutes

The first challenge of the day that employees face is their commute to work. It is estimated that in some urban locations, drivers spend 40% of their time idling in traffic. Additionally, traffic congestion costs the U.S. economy roughly $121 billion each year in lost productivity.

Currently being tested in some areas of Pittsburgh are artificial intelligence-fuelled traffic signals. These signals are designed to change with traffic flow, aiming to shorten the time drivers are spent idling. This smart traffic-management system relies on sophisticated AI algorithms to allow computerised traffic lights to coordinate with each other.

In addition to shortening the commute, many autonomous cars are also using artificial intelligence to improve commutes. Many companies developing self-driving cars are working to allow cars to drive without any assistance from an individual. This could lead to more productive commutes, allowing passengers to complete tasks for work before they reach the office.

Predictive capabilities

One AI solution that is currently underway is the ability to predict outcomes for businesses and their consumers. Using predictive analytics, companies can be better prepared to serve and meet the needs of their consumers.

Amazon’s prediction project is currently trying to incorporate AI technology to be able to predict when to send their customers an item before that individual runs out of that specific product. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are trying to take advantage of these possibilities so they can predict patient admission rates and have ample supplies and staff working during times of higher admission rates. Businesses can also depend on AI technology to better manage their inventory. These systems can monitor weather patterns, consumer behaviour, and purchasing rates, allowing businesses to stock their inventory based on these predictions.

Whether it’s saving lives or making life more convenient, the predictive capabilities of artificial intelligence will be a valuable resource for organisations to tap into.

Increased security

As cyber security threats develop and advance, AI technology has the ability to grow and advance just as quickly. Companies who invest in artificial intelligence based security systems will be able to keep up with and surpass the efforts of ever adapting hackers and cyber threats.

Similar to investing in commercial security systems or hybrid cloud solutions for protecting valuable data, organisations should invest in artificial intelligence to protect the assets of their company. Whether it’s predicting credit card fraud or detecting a potential security breach, artificial intelligence solutions can help protect the valuable data and resources of any company.

Lower costs

The incorporation of artificial intelligence can help business reduce everyday expenditures. From saving money by using less paper to requiring fewer employees, artificial intelligence solutions help businesses lower their expenses. Many businesses report that 50-60% of their expenses originate from the cost of paying the salaries and benefits of their employees. Additionally, other businesses have a hard time finding qualified individuals to hire, leaving their current employees overworked.

As artificial intelligence technology continues to improve, it will be able to perform simple tasks normally required of staff members, such as filing and organizing important information. By performing these basic tasks, this new technology will be able to save current staff members time and allow employees to focus on more essential and crucial work. With the implementation of artificial intelligence solutions, businesses can consolidate their staff needs and reduce their expenses.

Artificial intelligence solutions can provide businesses and organizations with a better understanding of the world around them. Equipped with this knowledge, AI solutions allow business owners and decision makers to make educated choices based on this acquired industry data. By incorporating AI systems in the future, these individuals will be better prepared to make informed decisions about their businesses.

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