5 Reasons Why Artificial Intelligence Cannot Replace Humans in Cyber Security Operations

Since the late 90s, machine learning has taken over cybersecurity industries and has been gaining attention. Solutions including Security Orchestration Automation and Response Systems and AI and ML-based technologies have been widely praised as the savior of cybersecurity. Although AI is an essential tool, it is not a panacea. Increasingly sophisticated threats are becoming increasingly common in enterprise IT infrastructures, and organizations will require skilled security professionals to provide solutions.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Machines can reproduce the human mind. Artificial intelligence does not compete with human intelligence. Artificial intelligence is beneficial to humanity and supports its job in many ways. Indeed AI can accomplish many things more quickly compared to humans. AI assists in repetitive tasks and saves time. Artificial intelligence can perform various routine tasks rapidly, ensuring that repetitive tasks are easily automated.

During industrial times, people outsourced repetitive hard work to working machine workers. Some centuries after, these machines evolved so that they could perform a variety of physically challenging tasks, including solving mathematical equations, writing, and talking. Artificial Intelligence has been gaining popularity in universities for some decades.

During that time, scientists mainly simulated brains, modeled human logic, or mimicked behaviors. The experimentation field of AI was dominated by mathematical and statistical machine learning.

AI assists in repetitive tasks and saves time.

Artificial intelligence can perform various routine tasks quickly, ensuring that repetitive tasks are easily automated.
Cyber security jobs are under increasing pressure to be more efficient and automate repetitive tasks. Artificial intelligence can help with both of these challenges.

AI can perform many routine tasks quickly and accurately, freeing cyber security professionals to focus on more complex tasks.

In addition, AI can help to identify potential security threats more rapidly and efficiently, helping to keep organizations safe from cyber attacks.

But, there are a few reasons why AI cannot entirely replace security professionals.

Reasons why AI cannot replace the human mind in cyber security operations

A. Lack of creativity and innovation

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are often lauded for their ability to rapidly process large amounts of data and identify patterns humans might miss. However, regarding cyber security operations, there are several important reasons AI cannot replace the human mind.

Creativity and innovation are among the most critical factors in successful cyber security operations. Cyber analysts must be able to think outside the box to identify new cyber threats and develop creative solutions to mitigate those threats and face security challenges. AI systems, on the other hand, are only as innovative as their programmers. While AI systems can rapidly process large amounts of data, they cannot develop new ideas and concepts.

B. Inability to understand the context

One of the critical functions of security analysts is contextual awareness. They need to understand what happened, why, and what it means in the larger scheme. This contextual awareness can only come from years of experience and human intuition. No machine, no matter how intelligent, can replace that.

In addition, contextual awareness is not just about understanding the past. It’s also about understanding the present and anticipating the future. Security analysts need to be able to see patterns and trends and make predictions about where those trends are going. Again, this is something that only humans can do.

C. Lack of empathy and emotional intelligence

Although machines can be fed emotion-identifying machine learning algorithms, they will never understand or feel human emotions. This is a critical component for many cyber security workers, as it requires understanding human behavior. For example, when investigating a possible data breach, security analysts need to understand what happened, why it happened, and what the motives were behind it. This human element is essential to making the best decisions for protecting an organization’s data.

Machines also lack what is known as emotional intelligence, or the ability to perceive, understand, and manage emotions. This can be critical in many cyber security situations where human interaction is required. For example, when dealing with a disgruntled employee who may be considering a data breach, having emotional intelligence can help security analysts diffuse the situation and prevent it from escalating.

D. Difficulty making ethical decisions

One of the most challenging aspects of cyber security is making ethical decisions. This is because there are often no clear right or wrong answers, and the stakes can be high. For example, suppose cyber security professionals discover a data breach. In that case, they need to decide how to protect the data best while ensuring that the responsible people are brought to justice. This can be a difficult decision to make and requires the human brain.

Machines cannot make ethical decisions because they cannot understand human values. This means they cannot weigh different options and come to a conclusion that aligns with human morality. They cannot replace the human mind in cyber security operations.

E. They require constant supervision

AI systems are only as good as their programmers. This means they are subject to the same biases and errors as humans. In addition, AI systems require human intervention to function correctly. They cannot be left alone for long periods, as they will quickly become outdated and inaccurate.

This is a significant drawback of using AI in cyber security operations. Security analysts must trust that the systems they use are reliable and accurate. If they can’t, then it defeats the purpose of using AI in the first place.

Overall, there are many reasons why AI cannot replace the human mind in cyber security operations. They cannot understand context, make ethical decisions, or even be left unsupervised. Cyber security is a complex field that requires the human brain to function correctly. Machines can be helpful in some security aspects but cannot replace the human element essential for cyber security operations.

Conclusion:

With the expansion of the threat landscape and the necessity for threat intelligence growing every day, cybersecurity teams are frequently understaffed and rely on human sources to make up for it. With AI& machine learning, we can take humans out of the equation by automating repetitive tasks. This frees them from focusing on more important tasks and allows us to scale our cybersecurity operations more quickly. To outpace cybercriminals, security risks AI solutions require continuous upkeep and monitoring by security teams to guarantee optimal performance. Undoubtedly, when businesses go for digital transformation, AI will play a significant role in future cybersecurity. It cannot, however, entirely replace people. We need human intelligence and creativity to combat the ever-changing threats posed by cybercriminals.