Inadequate Cybersecurity Forces Reinvestment

Drones, robots and self-driving cars may get a lot of attention, but many companies are more concerned with using AI technology for cybersecurity and data protection than in buying the latest tech toy⏤and for good reason, according to a January 2019 report from CB Insights.

In the past two years, major breaches of databases and the resulting liability have forced tech companies and any company that collects public data to take a hard look at its vulnerabilities and how to mitigate them. Many of the companies are finding their current data storage and protection woefully inadequate, according to the CB Insights Future of Data Security report.

AI and quantum computing will power the technologies that protect data. More than 30 start-up companies are addressing enterprise company needs. According to the report, “homomorphic encryption” will be the “holy grail” of enterprise data security. It allows companies to analyze encrypted data without exposing it to algorithms, processing systems or analysts so that they can maintain confidentiality. It also prevents data from being exposed during cyber attacks.

Another AI system will automate data anonymization to protect customers’ identities in the case of an attack.

CB Insights asserts that quantum computers will be the future of data security, because of their speed and ability to foil quantum computer attacks.

Companies like Quintessence Labs are developing a primary component of quantum resistant encryption called a true random number generator, the CB Insights Report said.

The data protection techniques for hackers who have already breached security will include deception, obfuscation, modification, and polymorphous techniques to hide sensitive data. CryptoMove, for instance, fragments, encrypts and mutates data to make it unrecognizable to hackers.

Other efforts by companies include outsourcing data to others that provide “data vault” services, using blockchain technology to encrypt data and a combination of the three. Already the largest tech companies⏤Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Apple have developed hundreds of technologies they’ve patented to protect data.