Vaccine denialists aside, most of us have experienced the benefits of building immunity to viruses. It may not be 100% effective, but will generally protect us from the worst possibilities.
Cybersecurity is a little different. Nothing less than 100% immunity will save businesses from disaster if they are breached by a virus or hacker. The industry has embraced the concept of Zero Trust, which assumes that every connection and endpoint is a potential threat.
But while it ensures blanket protection, as with vaccines, it does not confer total immunity.
This understanding persuaded cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, which originated in Russia, but now has a global presence, to embrace a philosophy of immunity rather than mere protection.
Eugene Kaspersky, the company’s founder and CEO, told Business Times: “While Zero Trust’s implementation is a lengthy process, Cyber Immunity is more of a practical tool in reaching an IT system’s so-called inherent protection — the ability to withstand cyberattacks without requiring additional security tools. Most attacks on a Cyber Immune system are ineffective and unable to impact its critical functions.”
Cyber Immunity will be a key element of secure-smart IT systems of the future, he says, especially “where IT systems are subject to higher cybersecurity, reliability and predictability requirements, such as manufacturing, the energy sector, transportation infrastructure and smart-city systems”.
The elements of a Cyber Immune system that make it so robust are in effect the opposite of traditional operating systems, which work with security tools added on to them. In some cases, such as electronic control units in cars, it is impossible to install those tools.
Hackers can obtain classified data and money, or disrupt critical infrastructure locally and nationally, which can lead to extremely serious consequences.
— Eugene Kaspersky
KasperskyOS, the company’s operating system, is based on the division of objects into many isolated modules. All interactions between them are controlled at the level of the microkernel, the minimum amount of software that can function as an OS.
“Thus, even if a cybercriminal gains access to any of the components, they won’t be able to perform malicious actions to in any way affect the operation of the system.”
The imperative for immunity has never been greater, given the range of geopolitical events, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, increasing the scale of cyberattacks internationally.
“We’re living through very challenging and uncertain times,” says Kaspersky. “Over the past 12 months the world has experienced an overall increase in cybercriminal activity, and hacktivists are looking to perpetrate cyberattacks across various industry sectors and regions of the world.
“The public sector is a target for the most sophisticated cyberattacks, including targeted attacks and advanced persistent threats (APTs), not only by cybercrime groups, but also by the various intelligence agencies around the world.
"With the help of APTs, hackers can obtain classified data and money, or disrupt critical infrastructure locally and nationally, which can lead to extremely serious consequences.”
Among other things, Kaspersky is using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to shore up immunity, especially ML-based algorithms used in detection. But ML as a bolt-on can be dangerous.
“Questions should be asked about how much the solution depends on third-party data and architecture. Many cyberattacks are based on third-party input like threat-intelligence feeds, public data sets, or outsourced ML models.
“Ultimately, AI and ML should not be considered a silver bullet to deliver comprehensive protection. Instead, they should be seen as part of a multilayered security approach where complementary protection technologies and human expertise work together.”
Automated tools like ChatGPT are, at this stage, not the threat media hype suggests, he says.
“Users have nothing to fear. If code written by a bot is used, it will be detected and neutralised by security solutions as quickly and efficiently as all previous malware written by real people. For now, AI platforms like ChatGPT bots can only compete with novice virus writers.”
• Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.