Artificial intelligence: Leveraging machines to dissect ransomware DNA

Ransomware is a big thorn in the side of today’s digital economy.

In the United States, victims of Ransomware attacks paid out more than $24 million dollars in ransom in 2015, according to the FBI. And that’s only the American payouts that the FBI knows about.

The global impact is far, far worse.

Terminating the threat of attacks is nearly impossible using standard technologies.

Often triggered by general phishing emails, or by personally targeted spear phishing messages, ransomware seems to be able to trick even the most cautious humans.

Traditional cybersecurity solutions study malicious activity after they have already infiltrated an organisation or consumer device. The threat is then studied and added to a database. This database of threats is called the signature database. This database then gets distributed to a manufacturer’s software clients, and they actively watch for threats from that list.

According Stuart McClure, chief executive officer for cybersecurity firm Cylance, this traditional approach is an antiquated one.

“You always need a sacrificial lamb; someone needed to be hacked first,” he says. “AI is about eliminating that sacrificial lamb.”

AI is increasingly able to detect and block the myriad versions of ransomware trojans and viruses. Cloud-based anti malware tools can throw nearly unlimited firepower against ransomware hackers.

Cylance makes software that predicts, then blocks, cyberattacks on the endpoint in real time using pre-execution artificial intelligence algorithms.  The solution proactively prevents, rather than reactively detects, the execution of advanced persistent threats and malware.

Cylance leverages the power of machines, not humans, to dissect malware’s DNA.

The company has hundreds of enterprise clients worldwide, including Fortune 100 organisations and government institutions.

McClure says there are three ways to address cyber attacks: prevent the attack, detect the attack only, respond.

“We are all about prevention.