Whether it is network security or phishing recognition, AI is indispensable for web hosts looking to fend off cyber-attacks. The world is going digital at a fervent pace, and this evolution is going to happen faster. Digitalization implies that everything is moving at lightning speed.
From business to new products, technological advancement is at the forefront of every revolution. The consumer gets what he/she wants desires instantly as the service provider has the means to deliver it. While the conveniences and advantages of this digital era are numerous, it also brings various negatives.
One of the most significant threats is that our private data is at risk. In other words, cybersecurity is a constant concern for businesses of all sizes. The web hosting industry is not an exception to this notion. There are countless instances of threats to hosting data by a growing number of malicious criminals.
The risks of cyber-attacks on web hosting business are only growing. Web hosting companies cannot compromise on security as they usually have tons of user data with them. Web hosts are under tremendous pressure to respond to an increasing number of cybersecurity threats.
Clients of web hosting companies trust them with all their valuable data and websites. That’s why it is the responsibility of these companies to thwart attacks related to cybercrime. Web hosting companies are now using sophisticated defense mechanisms which make use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).
What Are The Challenges Faced By Web Hosting Companies In Cyber Security?
Despite the advancements in the realm of cybersecurity, attacks are becoming more and more common. Here are some of the primary challenges that web hosting companies usually face in maintaining cybersecurity standards.
Manual Threat Hunting
For web hosts, manual threat hunting can be expensive and time-consuming in light of severe attacks.
Distant IT Systems
It is a common fact that distance makes manual tracking of incidents quite tricky. Usually, a lot of web hosting agencies have servers across the world. This makes them prone to frequent attacks of large scale as monitoring is often unavailable. Some web hosts practice regular monitoring of their servers creating a stronger framework for countering cyber-attacks.
Restricted Predictive Abilities
Note that web hosting companies can resolve and address issues only after they have taken place. There is an absence of a system where they can predict threats before they occur. Again there some exceptions of web hosting companies that implement a system for detecting malicious activities in advance.
Hackers Use Sophisticated Methodologies
Nowadays, hackers are using advanced technological platforms which help them to carry out silent attacks. From VPNs to proxy servers, hackers can keep their real identity hidden while executing attacks.
The Context Of AI & Cyber Security
AI is already revolutionizing various fields and industry domains. In simple words, cybersecurity is one of the multiple applications where AI is showing its true potential. No doubt, a typical data breach recovery can cost a lot for web hosts.
That’s why web hosting companies should invest more in AI to avoid waste of resources and time. One of the key highlights of AI and ML is that they can recognize patterns in data. This would enable the security systems to learn from experience. Furthermore, AI and ML ensure that organizations decrease incident response times.
How AI Helps Web Hosting Companies In Tracking Cyber Threats?
One of the key areas where AI can make a difference is that it can track threats. In other words, this would enable the web hosting companies to predict the attacks before they happen. As we all know, traditional security strategies rely a great deal on indicators to recognize threats.
This technique would work well for threats that have taken place already. However, this technique is irrelevant in case of threats that are yet to happen. For web hosting companies, signature-based strategies can recognize about 90% of threats.
However, substituting traditional techniques with AI can boost the detection rate to 95%. For cybersecurity experts, the best way to combat threats is by combining conventional methods with AI. This would result in a 100% detection rate, which works well for web hosts. Web hosting agencies are also relying on AI as it integrates behavioral analysis.
AI Is A Boon For Data Centers
Data centers are one of the integral components of web hosting companies. A severe cyber-attack on a specific data center can cripple the functions of the company. However, with AI, things are certainly looking bright for web hosting companies.
AI can monitor and optimize the crucial processes of data centers. For instance, it can monitor the backup procedures; supervise the cooling types of machinery and total power consumption. The continuous monitoring capabilities, along with the calculative powers of AI, are what make it a unique tech platform.
Furthermore, AI can decrease the overall cost of hardware maintenance by sending alerts. These alerts would enable the web hosting company to carry out repairs, thereby reducing downtime. For web hosts, the initial cost of adopting AI can be high. But in the longer run, AI provides web hosting companies with significant cost savings.
Management Of Vulnerabilities With AI
One of the crucial areas where web hosts tend to fail is to prioritize and manage the vulnerabilities. Moreover, the traditional vulnerability management methods tend to wait for malicious actors to exploit high-risk vulnerabilities.
There is no denying the importance of traditional vulnerability management databases. They are critical to contain and manage the known vulnerabilities. However, AI and ML techniques are adept in assessing the baseline behavior of user accounts.
AI can also analyze the servers and endpoint and recognize abnormal behavior. This would help the web hosting agencies to protect their assets even when vulnerabilities aren’t reported.
AI Can Reinforce Network Security For Web Hosts
Another area where web hosting companies grapple to secure is their networks. A majority of them still rely on traditional network security, which makes them suffer from cyber-attacks. The conventional infrastructure concerning network security usually involves two components.
Topography
A large number of web hosting agencies cannot assign proper workloads to specific applications and servers. That’s why security teams have to toil hard to address the underlying issues.
Policies
Usually, web hosts have a large number of networks and they maintain a unique policy for each network, this is a tedious task.
With AI, web hosting agencies can improve network security by learning traffic patterns. AI is adept at suggesting both security policies and workload grouping.
Enhancing The Efficiency Of Cyber Analysts
Web hosting companies usually have in-house analysts who try to predict and assess security issues. With AI, analysts can reduce a tremendous amount of time working on mundane tasks. AI would also enable them to spend quality time evaluating incidents. AI and ML can also understand the trends and patterns which the algorithms recognize.
Role Of AI In Phishing Detection & Prevention Of Attacks
One of the commonly used cyber-attack methods that web hosts face is phishing attacks. However, fortunately with AI, web hosts can prevent the large-scale occurrence of phishing attacks. Both AI and ML are adept at tracking a variety of phishing sources.
Moreover, they can react and take remedial actions much faster as compared to human beings.
In this rapidly evolving world, it is AI that has made it possible to identify a fake and a legitimate website.
The Context Of Behavioral Analytics With AI
Behavioral analytics is another area where AI can be beneficial for web hosting companies. The algorithms can learn and develop a pattern of behavior by how the web hosts interact with their users. Moreover, these algorithms can also learn how web hosting agencies have been managing security over the years.
The details can include everything, from the typical uptime to the servers used by web hosts. When the AI algorithms identify unusual activities that fall outside of your behavior, they will alert you immediately. So as you can see, AI in managing cybersecurity for web hosts indeed looks promising.
Timely Response Is Essential For Web Hosting Companies
For web hosting companies out there, a timely response is quite imperative. One of the critical highlights of AI is that it reacts to issues quickly. In simple words, it can prevent potential problems from disrupting your business.
Web hosting companies can make sure that their networks are safe by deploying AI algorithms. Moreover, web hosts have to maintain the integrity of data as a large number of users depend on them. In these types of situations, deploying AI is one of the best solutions.
While AI has taken considerable strides in applications across industries, its use in cyber-security is still at a nascent stage. Web hosting agencies are relying on various types of security measures to fend off nasty cyber-attacks.
As technology evolves, the adversaries are also enhancing their methodologies. With AI, web hosts can provide a comprehensive security mechanism along with their web hosting packages. Web hosts will get the advantage of being able to detect the attack, of detecting the patterns of attack, and providing a full-fledged security environment to their clients. As AI is still evolving, early adoption of AI can benefit the web hosting companies however the implementation of AI strategies would differ for every web host.
