Intelligent Solutions: How Innovation Is Helping To Suppress Cyber Attacks

Cyber crime continues to be a growing problem. Whether it is businesses making headline news for suffering catastrophic data breaches, or just the day-to-day activities of cyber criminals scamming individuals out of money, there can be no doubt that cyber crime influences all aspects of our lives. 

Indeed, there is good evidence to suggest that the pandemic and negative world events have exacerbated issues. In one recent report  experts at the UK’s cybersecurity agency explained how, since the outbreak of war in the Ukraine, there has been a heightened security threat from Russian hackers and a “steady and significant increase in cyber attacks against UK businesses in the last two years”. 

This means that businesses of all sizes have to respond to cyber crime and treat it like the threat that it is. According to Cyber Security Ventures, 60% of small companies that suffer a hack are closed within six months of the attack. This truly is an existential threat to your business, no matter your size and what industry you are in. 

Thankfully, there is hope on the horizon, and that hope comes in the form of innovation. Cybersecurity specialists are constantly reinventing and reimagining intelligent solutions to the cyber threats of the day. Here we take a look at some of the ways that innovation is helping keep cyber crime at bay. 

The Rise Of Quantum Computing

One major innovation that is probably the most important in terms of both cyber crime and cybersecurity is quantum computing. Quantum computers have many times the processing power of standard machines and this potentially makes them capable of breaking encryptions and other feats that are difficult to predict. “If your company hasn’t implemented quantum-resistant security yet, then how can you go about it?” says Nils Gerhardt, the Chief Technology Officer at cryptography firm Utimaco “Because the threat is perceived to be at an indeterminate point in the future, and we still don’t know exactly what quantum computers will be capable of, it can be daunting to transition an organisation to quantum-resistance, and even more difficult for security professionals to persuade management that it is a priority when current cyber crime threats are so pervasive.” 

Increasingly, businesses are looking to make use of quantum computing power in order to protect them against the potential damage that other quantum computers can do. 

Use Of Artificial Intelligence 

There can be no doubt that one of the largest innovations in cybersecurity in recent years has been the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). AI can operate in real-time and allow software to analyse data and look at issues in a completely different way than a human can. Indeed, one of the key ways that AI is influencing cyber crime is in its ability to handle extremely high volumes of data. “Implementing AI in cybersecurity helps organisations process an enormous amount of data with utmost precision and efficiency,” says Kashyap Vyas. “AI automates the creation of machine learning algorithms that can detect a wide range of cybersecurity threats emerging from spam emails, malicious websites, third-party applications, or shared files.”

The deployment of AI intelligence to reinforce organisation’s network security is fast-evolving and experiencing a continuous upturn as systems become more sophisticated. It is certainly true that businesses will always need human cybersecurity staff - but the rise of AI has also created new possibilities for cybersecurity software. 

A recent report by the World Economic Forum showed that if used well, AI has been able to successfully counter cyber attacks as well as help targeted businesses recover well from cyber onslaughts post-pandemic. A more intelligent AI has surfaced in the last couple of years, using advanced information as a smarter and more effective ‘currency’ to deal with cyber threats. The capabilities of such elevated AI machines can absorb and manipulate data better. These advances in data analytics have led to increased results in preventing cyber threats globally. 

Password Management Tools 

As cyber crime becomes more common and defences improve, cybercriminals have to become more sophisticated. This means that every day, the skills of criminals have to improve and new techniques have to be utilised for the criminals to continue to have success. However, there are still forms of cybersecurity that have not changed.

For example, the vast majority of accounts still utilise a simple username and password combination. While this keeps things simple, it can also put users in danger of having their password stolen or cracked. 

As such, it can become necessary to look for a different solution. There are actually a number of options, but one key innovation that we have seen in recent years is the rise of the password management tool. This works by allowing users to login to an account with one complex master password. The tool is then able to remember all of the unique passwords for you. Ultimately, this means that users can select far more complex passwords that are virtually impossible to crack.  

Biometric Identification

There are other methods of authentication that don’t involve passwords, however, as any time that a password is in use as the only form of authentication, there is a chance that the password can be stolen. This has forced cybersecurity professionals to look for other options when it comes to keeping data secure. 

A good example of innovation here is the use of biometric data. We are quite used to the idea of experiencing biometric authentication on our phones - fingerprint scanning and facial recognition have been available for a long time as a form of security. But this has led to worries about criminals' abilities to duplicate fingerprints and trick facial scanners. 

However, businesses are also finding ways to utilise other forms of biometrics, and some of these are seemingly impossible to fake. There are even forms of biometrics, such as how an individual uses a keypad or app, as well as sensors that look at cardiac measurements. 

Businesses Can Benefit From R&D

It is underrated just how important it is for companies to bring their own innovation to cybersecurity. When businesses put in the time and effort to create innovative solutions to cybersecurity problems, these can actually be rolled out to benefit other companies. And the best part of this is that the government rewards this kind of innovation in the form of R&D tax credits.

This functionally means that companies can claim back tax on crucial innovative work that they carry out. Unfortunately, it is the case that many smaller businesses don’t even realise that they can claim R&D tax relief and that it is there to fully get behind and support significant tech innovation,

“The R&D tax relief scheme is still woefully underutilised,” says tax expert Simon Bulteel, of tax consulting firm Cooden who specialises in technology and software-related R&D claims “if a business is carrying out research and development that is going to benefit the field of technology as a whole, they can claim back a large amount of their costs via tax credits”.

It is a great idea for companies of all sizes to look into investing in cyber security R&D. Doing so can have a profoundly positive impact on your business, it can hit cyber criminals where it hurts, and you can claim tax relief for it. 

As cyber criminals constantly innovate, it is up to businesses who want to keep themselves secure to do the same. Thinking creatively can help you stay a step ahead of the hackers at all times. 

Chester Avey is a business growth consultant who writes on cyber security for ClearHub: 

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