4 Ways Artificial Intelligence is Being Used to Help Keep Phones Secure

If you aren’t aware of AI’s influence over all aspects of tech at the moment, that’s probably because it does a good job of stepping in seamlessly to pick up the slack and take on tasks that could theoretically be handled by humans, but rarely are.

Cyber security is an example of an arena in which artificial intelligence is a powerful ally for end users, but how does this come across in a mobile context?

Detecting threats

Threat detection is one of the most significant aspects of cyber security since there are all too many examples of breaches that have gone unnoticed for months on end, leaving data and systems exposed to exploitation for protracted periods.

AI-enhanced security tools are better equipped to detect threats of all types in less time because they can draw on vast pools of data from a deluge of different devices, and identify suspicious signs of an infection in a flash.

This is part of a broader big data trend for cloud-based AI analysis benefitting individual end users and devices which might otherwise not have the onboard processing grunt or storage capacity to handle threat detection efficiently.

Data systems and databases are often compromised from within an organization. Identities and roles can be shared, and accounts may be accessed from different locations and devices. This is usually when vulnerabilities are heightened and data is exposed to various malicious attackers.

For example, active directory management is a data system with active identities that are assigned various roles, depending on their needs and assignments within the organization. As such, vulnerability may be decreased.

Other times, a compromising factor may come from client portals where clients are not using a password vault for increased protection. One Login even has gone a step further to offer CIAM, which is a unique customer protection.

Another system attackers can use to exploit your data is the operating system. For example, Sudo Linux is a way you can add an extra security layer to your Linux devices.

Finally, a well-rounded security strategy is always the best way to go. That is why unified identity platform is the future of cyber security.

Checking phones for spyware

If you’re a modern mobile user, it’s still useful to learn how to find spyware on your iPhone or Android handset. You can look out for unexpected performance problems, battery life blunders, and alarmingly high data usage, amongst other things.

Most importantly, with the latest security solutions backed by AI, you can weed out spyware and other malicious code, even if it has managed to take root already.

Because of this, it’s worth installing security software even if you suspect that your device is already compromised. The automated algorithms will do a better job of hunting down and stamping out spyware than you could through manual means.

Monitoring user behavior

Once again the appeal of AI in phone security comes down to its exceptional ability to parse huge volumes of data and draw conclusions about what the information reveals, not just on single handsets but in the context of the systems that they access from day to day.

For example, say that a business has an internal network to which employees have access via their smartphones. These portable devices can be points of vulnerability, as should they be infected then this could be passed onto in-house systems, circumventing security measures in the process.

With AI tools onboard, network traffic and user behavior can be monitored from moment to moment. Then as soon as anything out of the ordinary occurs, action to prevent a breach can be taken automatically, without needing human oversight.

It’s all about eliminating as many risks from business IT as possible, and that means making sure that human error and carelessness are not as likely to cause disasters.

Delivering an uninterrupted and intuitive experience

Most importantly, AI tools for mobile security are capable of working their magic without becoming a burden on the productivity of end users.

While some older solutions and strategies would have caused a degree of disruption in the day to day operations of an organization and its employees, the emergence of AI irons out these kinks. Thus mobiles can be made secure, without limiting their functionality or putting more barriers between users and what they want to get done.

Wrapping up

We’re really only in the early stages of AI influencing mobile security, and with time there will be a closer connection between these spheres, benefiting businesses and consumers in equal measure with the protection afforded to them.