Welcome to my research project: The Ethical Hacking of an AI
Anshul B -
Hello everyone! Welcome to my first blog! My name is Anshul Baddi, and I am a senior at Basis Phoenix. Some of my hobbies include playing soccer, volunteering for the Spanish Honors Society, and hanging out with my friends. I chose the field of cybersecurity for my senior project, as this is my future major. The title of my senior project is “Ethical Hacking of AI Models: Penetration Testing and Securing ML-Based Cybersecurity.” This research mainly focuses on creating an AI-driven cybersecurity model, training it, and eventually trying to hack into it.
Why This Project?
The main reason I chose this project is because of my passion for machine learning. I have always been fascinated by how AI can process information at lightning speed; thus, I wanted to connect it to cybersecurity. Also, I have an ample amount of experience in the machine-learning field through my previous internships. With the number of cybercriminals increasing, it is crucial to have a robust cybersecurity system in today’s day and age. Although previous research on this field exists, we will focus on how AI cybersecurity can be applied in smaller environments, such as businesses and educational institutions.
What You Need to Know
The definition of “ethical hacking” is an authorized attempt to gain unauthorized access to a system, application, or data using the tactics of cybercriminals. This research involves training an AI model on datasets from different industries, including healthcare and aviation, to enhance its robustness. After the training phase, we will try and hack into the AI with tools such as Kali Linux for penetration testing and Wireshark for traffic analysis, which will be used to simulate cyberattacks. This whole process will be done on a controlled virtual server in a lab. The main goal is to evaluate how efficient an AI-driven cybersecurity model is at threat detection and defending against cyberattacks.
What’s Next?
In the upcoming weeks, I will be conducting experiments and documenting the findings and challenges. Additionally, I will be working under Professor Gaviria at GCU to achieve my goals. In my opinion, this research is significant not only because it’s useful on a smaller scale but also because it shows us the power of AI in the cybersecurity field. Stay tuned to this blog for updates on my project!