Can Cybersecurity Be Replaced by AI?
When it comes to AI, there’s one question that always comes up: What can it replace?
Regarding cybersecurity, business owners may wonder if AI can replace their cybersecurity software. Maybe it can even replace their entire security team.
But that’s the wrong way of looking at it.
Cybersecurity is a complex system of interconnected tools and processes that requires significant context to function properly. Yes, AI is great at pulling together and analyzing data, but it doesn’t necessarily understand why that data matters in context. And AI simply can’t satisfy every single function needed for strong cybersecurity: multi-factor authentication (MFA), antivirus, encryption, security policies, data governance, security training, and so on.
Instead, AI’s real strength is a force multiplier: a tool that security teams can use to better detect and manage threats across a business environment.
So, short answer? No. AI isn’t going to fully replace your cybersecurity.
Now, ready for the long answer?
Key Takeaways
- Cybersecurity is too complex for AI alone to replace.
- Human security experts provide critical context that AI may miss when investigating threats.
- AI can handle repetitive investigative work and gather information from multiple security tools, so security teams can work more efficiently.
- The future of cybersecurity will involve a combination of human experts, security tools, and AI working together.
- A managed service provider can help small businesses with integrating AI into their cybersecurity strategy.
What Cybersecurity Actually Looks Like
It’s important to understand how cybersecurity actually functions before getting into where AI comes in.
We touched on it already, but cybersecurity is a layered system of interconnecting features and services. MFA protects accounts. Encryption protects sensitive data. Antivirus and endpoint protection help defend against malware. And these systems work together to help meet compliance requirements and security standards.
Then you have your cybersecurity experts who constantly monitor alert queues and flag malicious activity. However, it’s far more complex than just ticking boxes. Cybersecurity experts are constantly asking important questions based on context:
Where is this alert coming from? Why is it happening now? Could it be a false positive? If it’s real, what are the next steps?
Cybersecurity is a living, breathing system of humans working with their tools, and tools working together to protect every angle of your business.
Where AI Falls Short
That same context cybersecurity experts bring to the table is where AI stumbles.
Let’s say an alert comes in one evening, showing a suspicious connection from another country. An automated security system flags and blocks that connection, not recognizing the wider context that the connection point is actually an employee who’s signing onto their laptop while on vacation.
Or maybe, over the weekend, there’s an alert that a large amount of data has been saved off-site, and an automated tool marks it as a potential attack. Except it’s actually just your IT team performing an important data migration.
It’s not that AI can’t recognize these patterns, but AI systems can only make decisions based on the information available to it. If it isn’t told to check for these kinds of things, it won’t have any way of knowing about them.
As Lydia Zhang, President and Co-founder of Ridge Security, said to Forbes regarding AI and security replacement, “a job is rarely just a stack of tasks you hand off one by one.”
Then there’s the fact that AI struggles to deal with zero-day attacks.
AI relies heavily on the data it’s been trained on and patterns it’s learned to recognize. When an attack doesn’t resemble anything it’s seen before, an AI can struggle to identify what’s going on.
And while you could argue the same thing for humans, a human, again, can apply broader situational context and reasoning to a new threat.
Where AI Makes Sense
Cybersecurity tools are constantly firing off alerts. Some real, many false positives – up to 53%, according to one 2024 report. Sifting through all of these alerts and separating the real threats from the false positives is where AI becomes very helpful.
AI is incredibly good at repetitive investigative work. While it won’t always understand the context of a security alert, it can collect information from different security tools, organize it, identify patterns, and even summarize what happened. All of that information can then be brought to human analysts for deeper investigation.
It both helps speed up security processes while mitigating fatigue – a real challenge for overworked security teams.
In fact, according to a study by the Security Alliance on Security Operations Centers (SOCs), AI-assisted analysts completed investigations 45-61% faster, with a 22-29% higher accuracy.
What Does This Mean for the Future of Cybersecurity?
The future of cybersecurity isn’t AI over tools, or even AI over teams. It’s security teams + tools + AI, all working together.
And this combination has some serious power. Power that’s going to be needed as technology continues to advance, and security threats increase in complexity. Because human teams shouldn’t be chained to the never-ending scroll of basic security alerts.
The question shouldn’t be: “What can I replace with AI?” It should be: “How can I integrate AI into my cybersecurity posture?
And answering that requires help from the experts.
How an MSP Merges AI and Cybersecurity
Managed service providers (MSPs) have increasingly stepped into the role of AI consultants as businesses adopt this new technology. Pax8, for example, has recently championed the term managed intelligence provider, describing an evolution of the MSP model around autonomous AI agents and their role in IT support.
You want an MSP, like The 20 MSP, in your corner, because they’re the experts who understand not only how AI works, but how to implement it safely into your business.
Here are a few ways an MSP can help.
Creating an AI Usage Policy
Arguably, one of the most important aspects of integrating AI into your business is establishing a strong AI usage policy. These policies help mitigate undocumented AI use – known as shadow AI – while providing guardrails on how AI should be utilized across your business.
A good AI usage policy can:
- Identify what AI tools are approved for business use.
- Define what data is strictly off-limits for AI, like passwords, client information, and sensitive financial data.
- Establish who is responsible for reviewing and verifying AI-generated outputs.
That way, instead of having a vague idea of what employees are using AI for, you have clear guidelines around that usage.
Expert Oversight
You’re going to need a security team that understands how to work with AI.
An AI-enabled MSP can help businesses use these tools while recognizing their limitations, like false positives, inaccurate conclusions, and pointing to areas where human investigation is needed.
Having experts who understand AI is critical when cybersecurity is involved.
Security Tool Implementation
As we said, your AI security tools don’t exist in isolation. They need to work in tandem with your other security tools.
If your business doesn’t have the right security controls, adding AI won’t help. You need to set up your security environment before introducing AI; that way, your AI tools will have something to pull their data from.
Not only that, basic security tools are still critical to business security, and an MSP can help you implement the appropriate technologies for your business.
All of that comes together to form a cohesive cybersecurity strategy.
And that’s exactly what an MSP can help with.
Bring It All Together with The 20 MSP
So, no. AI isn’t going to replace cybersecurity.
But we’d argue that security teams that know how to use AI will replace those that don’t.
And The 20 MSP has seen where the wind is blowing.
We’ve built out an entire AI consultation team to help our clients with AI adoption, while providing cutting-edge cybersecurity features backed by a 24/7/365 live service desk. And that’s all at one flat-rate monthly fee. Because we believe that the best support is both proactive and predictable.
If you’re looking for a technology partner that can help you adopt AI safely, we’re here to help.
FAQ
Can AI replace cybersecurity tools?
No. AI alone cannot match the layered use of multiple security tools. Instead, it can help bring those tools together by gathering data into one place and reviewing each tools output.
Can AI replace cybersecurity professionals?
Again, no. AI lacks the context necessary to accurately determine and identify threats. Instead, AI can help security experts locate potential threats faster than they could on their own.
How is AI used in cybersecurity?
AI is primarily a force multiplier. It can collect information from different security tools, organize it, identify patterns, and even summarize what happened, helping security teams work faster and more efficiently.
How can businesses safely integrate AI into their cybersecurity strategy?
By working with a managed service provider (MSP), a business can implement clear AI usage policies that outline use, receive expert human oversight, and have a team that understands how to work with AI safely.
About The 20 MSP
As a leading provider of managed IT services, The 20 MSP serves thousands of businesses nationwide, providing each one with white-glove service, secure and streamlined IT infrastructure, and 24/7/365 support. We believe in building lasting relationships with clients founded on trust, communication, and the delivery of high-value services for a fair and predictable price. Our clients’ success is our success, and we are committed to helping each and every organization we serve leverage technology to secure a competitive advantage and achieve new growth.
