Machine learning: The saviour of cybersecurity?

Today, machine learning has come of age as it seeks to create predictive models and algorithms and gives computers the ability to carry out tasks without being explicitly programmed. Examples of Machine Learning we use on a day-to-day basis are Google search engines, recommendations from Amazon, Netflix and YouTube, and even suggested friends on Facebook. However, machine learning is also being called out as the saviour of cybersecurity, with companies incorporating it into their technologies to predict, prevent and defeat the next major cyber-attack. With internet crime growing at the rate it is, we need all the tools in our armory to stand any chance of keeping pace. According to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, security scams have cost Australians over $950 000 to date in 2017, with hacking scams hitting the hardest.