The terms machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) are way overused terms in our industry.  Every vendor seems to have the latest and greatest ML/AI solution to solve your security problem.  But when you really dig into the math, there are mathematical models that can actually help us.  So why don’t we focus on the specifics?

A lot of it has to do with marketing.  Every vendor wants to have the latest and greatest solution, regardless if it works or even solves a problem.  It also fuels new markets by the analysts to try to embrace these new solutions and try to different the old market with the new market.  Think I’m exaggerating?  Let’s discuss a market near and dear to my heart, Vulnerability Management.

We all know this market pretty well, but let’s look at it’s history…. Vulnerability Assessment become Vulnerability Management, as we realized it was a process, not a scan.  We embraced the common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) to help us prioritize vulnerabilities, but it wasn’t enough.  Then we introduced Threat and Vulnerability Management (TVM), as threats would help us prioritize vulnerabilities, but it still missed the mark.  Now it’s about Risk-based Vulnerability Management, as we understand that asset criticality is an important part of the prioritization of vulnerabilities.  But most vendors still rely on CVSS as the basis for the score…

Michael Roytman from Kenna Security joined Paul’s Security Weekly to discuss the limitations of CVSS and why mathematical models are much better at predicting outcomes to address the broad concern of non-targeted attacks.  These mathematical models are the foundation of Kenna Security’s Risk-based Vulnerability Management solution.  Kenna Security’s solutions leverage real-time threat intelligence and unmatched data science to show you the exact risk of every vulnerability, so you can focus resources on those that matter.

To get a deep dive into the math behind Kenna Security, watch the interview on Paul’s Security Weekly here, to build your risk-based vulnerability management program, watch their recent on-demand webcast here, or visit securityweekly.com/kennasecurity for more information.