Cybersecurity remains one of the fastest-growing career fields in the world. But with artificial intelligence already changing the cybersecurity landscape, will cybersecurity be replaced by AI? No, Forbes says: “AI won’t replace cybersecurity professionals, but it will transform the profession.” For aspiring digital security professionals, an ideal way to gain an early advantage in future-proofing their career tracks is earning a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems (MIS) — Cybersecurity online from Northwest Missouri State University.
The accredited online management information systems curriculum focuses on developing technical and strategic skills that support AI-powered cybersecurity. For instance, programming courses like Java and Python emphasize secure software development practices specifically tailored to information systems security, while system design studies explore the best practices for building cyber-resilient IT infrastructures. Students also delve into IT project management to gain insights into the development and deployment of security initiatives.
Courses in secure system administration and digital forensics explore advanced and emerging processes for protecting networks and data, and protocols for investigating cyberattacks. “The next generation of cybersecurity professionals will need to prepare for a future in which the threat landscape will be more sophisticated; but thanks to AI, there also will be more robust tools to leverage to keep their organizations secure,” Forbes continues.
What Are the Benefits of AI Cybersecurity?
As cybercriminals become more tech-sophisticated, security professionals are countering with cybersecurity AI. These advanced systems enable organizations to dynamically assess cybersecurity risks by analyzing real-time data, digital ecosystem factors and attacker behaviors. For instance:
- Context-Based Vulnerability Risk Scoring ranks digital assets by their value to the organization, the likelihood of it being attacked, specific vulnerabilities and existing defenses. Rapid 7‘s Ai-Generated Risk Scores, for example, combine machine learning with historical data to predict which vulnerabilities are most likely to be exploited.
- Vulnerability Exploitation Trends are an AI cybersecurity process that identifies attack patterns by scanning global attack patterns, hacker forums and dark web activity to predict potential exploits. The Google Threat Analysis Group used AI to track potential attacks to reveal trends in state-sponsored cybercrime.
“The benefit of AI for cybersecurity experts are not to dissimilar to the benefits for cyber criminals: the ability to quickly analyze large amounts of data, automate repetitive processes and spot vulnerabilities,” Exploding Topics explains. Cyber criminals are constantly innovating new ways to exploit the vulnerable, so cybersecurity professionals must be prepared to respond.
How Can Generative AI (GenAI) Be Used In Cybersecurity?
GenAI, an application of Artificial Intelligence that generates content such as text and code from patterns discovered in existing datasets, is used in continuous monitoring of automated workflows, systems and networks. GenAI enables organizations to maintain continuous security awareness, rapidly identify and respond to risks in real-time, and optimize their incident response capabilities.
GenAI Runtime Defense (GARD), for instance, actively monitors large language models (LLMs) to detect malicious prompts and unauthorized access attempts, ensuring compliance with security policies while protecting critical systems and assets. By continuously analyzing and responding to threats, GenAI enhances the effectiveness of security monitoring and protects organizations from evolving cyber risks.
How Does AI in Cybersecurity Enhance Collaboration Support Systems?
Collaboration Support tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams provide a unified platform for cross-team communication. The single point of contact ensures a seamless exchange of updates, incident timelines and critical information across departments like IT, operations, senior and executive leadership and other departments.
“Collaboration between AI systems and human analysts is crucial for continuous learning and improvement in the incident response,” IT Convergence advises. AI enhances collaboration during incident prevention, detection and response by streamlining communication, automating workflows and improving decision-making across teams. AI optimizes collaboration systems by:
- Predictive Risk Analysis by identifying vulnerabilities in shared tools. For example, GenAI evaluates integration risks with third-party apps to prevent breaches via insecure plugins.
- Proactive Threat Intelligence shares real-time alerts about emerging threats (e.g., phishing campaigns) across teams, enabling preemptive action.
- Real-time Anomaly Monitoring analyzes communication patterns, file-sharing activity and login behavior to flag suspicious actions.
- Automated Alerts integrates with SIEM systems to notify cross-functional teams of potential threats via centralized dashboards.
- Automated Workflows by coordinating tasks across teams. For example, an AI copilot in Slack can automatically create incident channels, assign roles and generate incident summaries.
- Root Cause Analysis correlate data from logs and chat histories to identify attack origins and recommend containment steps.
- Post-incident Collaboration generates reports and action items for teams to refine future strategies, leveraging insights from past incidents.
What Is a Management Information Systems Degree?
Northwest’s online degree program in Management Information Systems — Cybersecurity online equips graduates with high-demand IT skills. These include programming, network fundamentals and systems design, as well as basic business and management competencies.
Key learning objectives include developing expertise in detecting cyberattacks on digital assets, bridging the gap between business and technical teams and troubleshooting information systems to develop solutions for them. The curriculum equips graduates for cybersecurity roles in management information systems such as security engineer, information security and analyst, cybersecurity architect, compliance officer, penetration test, incident response analyst and security software developer.
Learn more about Northwest Missouri State University’s online Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems — Cybersecurity program.
