In any debate, there are always at least two sides. That reasoning also applies to whether or not it is a good idea to use artificial intelligence technology to try stemming the advantages of cybercriminals who are already using AI to improve their success ratio. In an email exchange, I asked Ramprakash Ramamoorthy, director of research at ManageEngine, a division of Zoho Corporation, for his thoughts on the matter. Ramamoorthy is firmly on the affirmative side for using AI to fight cybercrime. He said, "The only way to combat cybercriminals using AI-enhanced attacks is to fight fire with fire and employ AI countermeasures."

From an organisational perspective, apart from loss of critical information, financial losses, reputational damages and disruption in operations, in most cases, it becomes impossible to identify the intensity of the cyberattack, and the amount of data that was actually compromised often remains unknown. This was witnessed even recently when hackers launched attacks on multiple Indian pharmaceutical companies where, till date, there is no visibility on the degree of attack and the nature of data that was compromised. Cybersecurity is a critical aspect for all organisations today. Unfortunately, most businesses are not adequately equipped to handle these complex cyber threats simply because they continue to rely on traditional techniques. They do not possess the high-end tools required to quickly identify and recover from threats which, if adopted, can go a long way in ensuring cybersecurity.

When Darktrace launched in 2013, the world of cybersecurity was an entirely different landscape. "Today, we are used to hearing about artificial intelligence. Six years ago, the idea that you simply couldn't keep all the bad guys out and that companies needed an AI-powered digital immune system to defend against attacks was radical," Poppy Gustafsson, co-CEO of Darktrace, tells Growth Quarters. Fast-forward several years and Darktrace has become of the leading players in the cybersecurity space, in part due to Gustafsson going against the worst advice she ever received: Being told not to do something in a certain way because it went against convention. Darktrace's proprietary technology has of course played a part too.