How AI Gives The Web Hosting Industry A Winning Edge Over Cybercriminals?

The web hosting industry has undergone a massive transformation in the last decade. A large number of trends are converging and reshaping the industry forever. One of the prominent trends in the realm of web hosting is Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Whether it is network security or identifying phishing, AI is integral to web hosts looking to fend off cyber-attacks. The world is going digital at a great pace with the increasing proliferation of internet services.

There is no denying that cybercrime is a growing threat. Web hosts are scrambling to opt for the best measures to guard their servers against malicious elements. From organizational practices to innovative product launches, technological advancement is at the forefront of every revolution.

The consumer gets what they want instantly from the service provider. While the conveniences of the digital era are numerous, it also brings various negatives. One of the most significant threats we usually face is maintaining the integrity of our private data.

In simple words, cybersecurity is a constant threat for businesses of all sizes. This notion holds for the web hosting industry too. There were many instances in the past where the web hosting industry was the victim of cyber-attacks.

And with the growing trend of digitalization, the frequency of cyber-attacks will only grow. Note that web hosting companies cannot compromise on security as they store user data. That’s why the web hosting industry is under great pressure to respond to cyber-attacks.

So how can AI help the web hosts to thwart cyber-attacks? Let’s take a glance at how AI is helping the web hosting industry to repel cyber-attacks. But before that, let’s explore the challenges faced by the web hosting industry.

Challenges Faced By The Web Hosting Companies

Despite the advancements in the realm of cybersecurity, attacks are quite common. Here is a list of some prominent recent challenges faced by the web hosting industry:

Manual Threat Hunting

For web hosts, the prospect of manual threat hunting can be expensive and time-consuming.

Unorganized IT Infrastructure

It is quite common for web hosts to possess an unorganized IT infrastructure. In simple words, web hosts have an array of data centers and servers across the world. This makes them prone to frequent attacks as monitoring each system is not feasible. Popular web hosts regularly monitor their servers to thwart any chances of cyber-attacks.

Unavailability Of Predictive Abilities

It is worth mentioning here that web hosts can only take action after any cyber-attack has taken place. There is an acute absence of a system where they can predict threats before they happen.

Cybercriminals Use Highly Sophisticated Methodologies

Nowadays, it is quite common for malicious attackers to make use of advanced technology platforms to execute attacks. From proxy servers to VPNs, hackers can keep their identity hidden while carrying out attacks on a large scale.

Now that we know the challenges faced by the web hosting industry let’s have a look at how AI helps in addressing these issues.

AI For Detecting Cybercrime Patterns

Even with many security measures in place, thwarting cybercrime remains an issue. A large majority of websites are still falling victim to various hacking methods. From SQL to DDoS attacks, there are a wide variety of means by which cybercriminals can steal your data.

A recent survey found that a majority of large organizations believe that AI can help prevent cyber-attacks. These companies believe that it is necessary for hosting providers to leverage the capabilities of AI to prevent cyber-attacks.

AI is already revolutionizing a plethora of fields. Both AI and Machine Learning can recognize patterns in data. This would help the security systems deployed on servers to learn from previous data breaches. Moreover, with AI and ML, it would become easier for hosting providers to reduce incident response times.

Tracking Cyber Threats

One of the highlighting aspects of AI is that it can effectively help in tracking cyber threats. This would allow the web hosting companies to predict the attacks before they take place. Traditional security setups typically rely a great deal on various indicators to identify threats.

This strategy will undoubtedly work well for threats that have taken place already. However, this tactic is irrelevant in case of threats that are yet to take place. In the case of web hosting companies, signature-based tactics can identify almost 90% of threats.

On the contrary, when you replace traditional strategies with AI, it can bolster the detection rate up to 95%. Many cybersecurity experts believe that the best way to combat threats is by combining AI and conventional strategies.

This can help the web hosts to detect cyber threats much earlier. Another main reason behind integrating AI with web hosting is that it helps with behavioral analysis.

AI For Vulnerability Management

One of the primary areas where many hosting providers fail is to prioritize and manage vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the conventional way of managing vulnerabilities is not enough to counter modern-day cyber-attacks.

With AI and ML, it becomes fairly easier to analyze the baseline behavior of the user accounts. With AI, you would also be able to analyze servers and identify any abnormal behavior. This would assist the web hosting companies in securing their assets in case of data breaches.

AI Can Monitor Data Centers

Data centers are one of the most crucial components of web hosting companies. A severe attack on a particular data center can severely limit its functioning. With AI, things are looking quite bright for web hosting companies.

AI can support web hosts in monitoring and optimizing the important processes of data centers. For instance, web hosts can use AI for monitoring backup procedures.

It can also help web hosts to supervise the total consumption of power. AI is one such technology that comprises continuous monitoring capabilities. It also possesses great calculative powers, which can provide precise findings to web hosts.

Another highlighting aspect of AI is that it can reduce the overall expenditure of hardware maintenance by transmitting alerts.

These timely alerts can help the web hosts to execute repairs and decrease downtime. In the case of web hosts, the initial cost of adopting AI can be quite expensive. But in the future, deploying AI will be cost-effective and efficient.

Behavioral Analytics & AI

Behavioral analytics is another way in which AI can help web hosting companies. Algorithms in AI can learn and create a behavioral pattern through which the web hosts interact with their users. As these algorithms are self-learning, they can help web hosts to manage security better.

The AI algorithms can learn everything, from the uptime of the servers to their downtime. When the algorithms recognize any unusual activity outside the server’s normal behavior, they alert the web hosts. In other words, the role of AI in managing cybersecurity indeed looks promising.

Reinforcement Of Network Security With AI

One area where web hosts usually struggle is to secure their networks. A majority of cyber-attacks occur due to poor network security. Web hosts tend to rely a lot on traditional security, which makes them susceptible to cyber-attacks.

It is quite common for hosting providers to not be able to assign proper workloads to particular apps. Furthermore, hosting providers rely on a large number of networks and every network has a unique policy.

By deploying AI, web hosting agencies can improve network security by learning the traffic patterns. Moreover, AI is quite adept at recommending security strategies and workload balancing.

For hosting providers, a timely response is quite important after an attack. With AI, hosting providers can react to the issues quickly. In simple words, AI can help web hosts to prohibit potential issues from disrupting their business.

Conclusion

Hosting providers can ensure that their networks are safe by deploying AI algorithms. In complex situations, deploying AI is one of the ideal solutions. With the evolution of technology, cybercrimes are also leveling up and the web hosting industry needs a strong foundation for securing their clients and networks against cybercriminals and this can be done by incorporating AI.

AI can help web hosts to facilitate an extensive security mechanism through the web hosting packages. Deploying AI in web hosting is the need of the hour. AI can help web hosts to detect the patterns of attack and provide a dedicated environment capable of thwarting threats. But note that AI is still evolving and it is going to take some time until it is incorporated into the routine processes.