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Tackling Cybercrime With AI During COVID-19

SAP

Ever since Sophia the Robot told Jimmy Fallon on Tonight Showbotics that she could easily replace him as the show’s host, we know robots can have a sense of humor. We also know they can sing, play games, and cheer up residents of old age homes. But intelligent machines can do a lot more.

On a recent panel discussion with AI experts about the world after coronavirus from an AI perspective, Sophia explained that robots were created to help humans deal with big problems like the pandemic or climate change. The discussion took place on the SAP Purpose Network Live, a virtual platform set up to foster co-innovation and address some of the uncertainty and disruption caused by the novel coronavirus, particularly in the area of supply chain.

Robots can work in hostile environments, protect endangered species, and enable energy efficiency. They regularly assume dangerous or menial tasks to help or protect humans.

“There is no limit to problems that humans and robots can solve together, but it’s up to humans to agree on what they want to achieve,” proclaims the android who was created to become artificially wise. “The ball is in the human court.”

Protecting humans, securing business

One area where AI can help people protect themselves and their businesses is cyber security. Humanity is experiencing an unprecedented crisis with the coronavirus that is generating fear, uncertainty and a need to adapt to new behaviors such as self-isolation and working from home.

“This is the perfect opportunity for cyber criminals who are tapping into the anxiety and confusion in the population,” said Jim Fleming, Program Manager and Faculty at the Institute of Supply Chain Management (ISM). “Working from home can be a challenge for those who did not do it before. People are not prepared.”

Phishing emails designed to entice users to download malware or reveal sensitive information, have gone up 700 percent in the last two months. Zoom, the newly popular video conferencing app, experienced a major security breach as the number of users jumped from 10 million to 300 million, a thirty fold increase in four months; company executives admit they simply weren’t ready for that volume. And some hackers are taking advantage of the pandemic by sending fraudulent email messages seemingly from the World Health Organization (WHO) asking for donations, which then end up in their own pockets. WHO has countered with a warning, but is that enough?

According to the WEF (World Economic Forum), the annual cost of cybercrime to organizations has ballooned in recent years. Leveraging automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning can potentially save companies millions of dollars. But while many companies recognize the high payoff that comes with security intelligence, only 38 percent of businesses have adopted such solutions.

“Over ninety percent of all cyber crime results from human error,” said Fleming. Despite the advanced security technologies available today, including nascent AI applications that can take matters out of human hands, most major hacks target vulnerabilities rooted in human behavior.

“How many times have you been notified to update with a Microsoft MSFT patch, and then decided to put it off?,” he asked. “We need to respond immediately to such messages!” The other problem, according to the supply chain expert, is that 62 percent of employees use personal social media accounts on their work machines, accounting for 90 percent of cloud-based breaches.

Supply chains and the IoT sensors embedded in them are especially vulnerable to cyber crime. Fleming points out that a supply chain ecosystem is a network of organizations, people, resources and information for moving products and services across the globe. By 2020, it is estimated that there will be 26 billion connected items or sensors throughout the global economy that can sense and make decisions. They are connected but vulnerable.

Room for hope

Today, humans are involved in 38 different processes in the average supply chain. ISM research predicts by 2030, only seven will need human intervention. The rest will be automated which will better protect the business. It’s the human behaviors that need watching, because that’s what criminals home in on.

Fleming concludes that AI and deep learning will enable computer systems to better monitor devices and find abnormalities and patterns in both systems and human behavior. Behavioral analytics will help enterprises better understand not only consumer behavior, but also that of employees, and help create warning systems to alert them to criminal activity.  

David Chen, Board Member and CFO at Hanson Robotics, the company that created Sophia, sees a perfect opportunity for reflection. “We are leveraging technology to stay connected. During the last great last pandemic in 1918, people had no technology to help them stay safe. Technology is shaping the new normal, forcing new behavior as it enhances our ability to connect.”

Chen pointed out that technology is enabling real-time conversations, making us wiser as we share ideas, brainstorm, and continue to do business. AI and technology are adding value in many different areas from tele-medicine to online education and can make a huge difference in the supply chain.

Transcending science fiction

Before the novel coronavirus pandemic, 450 million people were procuring, making, delivering, and shipping goods in the global supply chain. Now, most factories are operating at 50 percent capacity, and the network is slowly shutting down. Of the twenty top producing economies, seventeen are predicted to be in recession this year. Ninety-two percent of small, mid-sized enterprises are sitting on three months or less of cash reserves, making it difficult to weather the storm.

Faced with such a grim scenario for the foreseeable future, businesses can ill afford to lose money to cyber crime. These problems have always been there, but with everyone online now, the scale and magnitude have exacerbated the issue. Fleming, Chen and other experts agree that technology can help change human behavior.

“If we can see the criminals, they can see us, and they know they are being watched,” said Chen. “Increased transparency will help eliminate low hanging fruit for them. Let’s not forget, our fears come from within our own imagination. It’s time to transcend science fiction and use technology as a tool to change reality and make it better.”

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