Nithen Naidoo, founder and CEO of Snode Technologies.

AI’s prime virtues revolve around its ability to automate repetitive tasks at high speed and scale, and to process large amounts of data to support better decision-making. Its impact on cybersecurity is already evident.

It offers cybercriminals the capacity to mount high-volume, automated and intelligent attacks at scale without having to employ more people. But, on the flipside, AI is also a powerful tool in the hands of the good guys. Its built-in intelligence and ability to learn means that defenders can move away from being purely reactive to anticipating attacks before, or just as they occur. In addition, AI-enabled cybersecurity can respond to attacks in real time, as compared to the delayed responses inevitable when humans are solely responsible.

Similarly, AI’s powerful automation capabilities mean that the defence system can cope with large-scale, automated attacks, and learn about its attackers the better to counter them. “Speed is a key advantage that AI gives to defenders, but even more important is the way it amplifies human intelligence. AI complements human experts; in the cybersecurity space, this means that scarce human resources can be freed up to focus on value-added, strategic work, such as analysing root causes,” says Nithen Naidoo, CEO of Snode Technologies, a Pretoria-based cybersecurity specialist.

Naidoo goes on to explain that how a cybersecurity solution uses AI is critical to its efficacy. Snode’s technology is the fruit of years of experience in securing operational technology (OT) on mines, essentially their SCADA systems. The Internet of Things is essentially OT connected to the internet. Because it is largely unattended, it’s extremely vulnerable to cyberattack and has become a favourite backdoor for hackers.

“Our technology was developed in the real world in response to real-world problems, not in some lab,” Naidoo says. “A real advantage for South African and African customers is that it is local technology, locally based, which means they are not exposed to the risk inherent in entrusting defence to a foreign company that could, in theory, have ulterior motives. Having a national capability in cyber defence is a must. The analytics Snode uses are patented worldwide.”

A second advantage is that Snode uses an appliance that is located at the client’s premises. This means that in the event of communications being compromised during an attack, the defence is still operative.

A key point is that Snode uses only metadata to perform its analyses, so organisations don’t need to share their encryption key. “Companies and government entities really appreciate this,” Naidoo observes.

He goes on to say that Snode’s approach can be categorised as “explainable AI”, a glass (rather than black) box. This is a principle dating from its earliest days, where it became clear that how technology works can have mortal impact in, say, a mine. “Executives need to understand how the AI works in order to understand its impact,” he says. “Thanks to this approach, we are actually helping clients to adapt to AI more generally across their operations in a secure and responsible way.

“You could call it the Mzanzi edge.”

To connect with us, contact us at info@snode.com