FireEye Inc., a provider of managed security services augmented by machine learning algorithms, has acquired Respond Software, a provider of a platform that automates security incident investigations, for $186 million. Peter Bailey, executive vice president and COO for FireEye, said the acquisition of Respond Software adds eXtended Detection and Response (XDR) capabilities to better leverage the expertise of both the FireEye platform and security professionals who use it to manage security on behalf of customers. XDR is designed to make it easier to correlate events across endpoints and network traffic flows to identify cybersecurity threats more accurately. Respond Software will also be integrated into the portfolio of services that FireEye makes available via Mandiant Solutions, an arm of the company that focuses on threat intelligence and security posture assessments. The Respond Analyst XDR engine leverages cloud-based data science models that ingest data from a range of security technologies in real-time.

It can also reflect human flaws and inconsistencies, including 180 known types of bias. Biased AI is everywhere, and like humans, it can discriminate against gender, race, age, disability and ideology. AI bias has enormous potential to negatively affect women, minorities, the disabled, the elderly and other groups. Computer vision has more issues with false-positive facial identification for women and people of color, according to research by MIT and Stanford University. A recent ACLU experiment discovered that nearly 17 percent of professional athlete photos were falsely matched to mugshots in an arrest database.

What is new is the growing ubiquity of AI in large organizations. In fact, by the end of this year, I believe nearly every type of large organization will find AI-based cybersecurity tools indispensable. Artificial intelligence is many things to many people. One fairly neutral definition is that it's a branch of computer science that focuses on intelligent behavior, such as learning and problem solving. Now that cybersecurity AI is mainstream, it's time to stop treating AI like some kind of magic pixie dust that solves every problem and start understanding its everyday necessity in the new cybersecurity landscape.

What is new is the growing ubiquity of AI in large organizations. In fact, by the end of this year, I believe nearly every type of large organization will find AI-based cybersecurity tools indispensable. Artificial intelligence is many things to many people. One fairly neutral definition is that it's a branch of computer science that focuses on intelligent behavior, such as learning and problem solving. Now that cybersecurity AI is mainstream, it's time to stop treating AI like some kind of magic pixie dust that solves every problem and start understanding its everyday necessity in the new cybersecurity landscape.

Artificial intelligence is already being deployed and applied in a wide range of situations to boost productivity, increase sales, or improve user experiences. One area that AI use is still in its infancy is cybersecurity. Yet, at a time when hackers' ability to commit fraud and cause harm is more sophisticated than it's ever been, leveraging every tool is paramount if you want to stay ahead of the curve. In addition, the average enterprise is seeing a steady growth in the number and type of users, devices, networks, and interfaces thanks to great strides made in cloud computing, the Internet of Things, 5G, network speeds, data volume, and other contemporary technologies. When deployed in concert with other defensive mechanisms, AI can be a powerful weapon against cyberattacks.