Artificial intelligence (AI), automation and machine learning are disrupting every industry and introducing promising results. Cloud based services have also begun to explore the utilization of AI to improve cloud applications. There are several tasks associated with cloud usage that can be enhanced, if automated. For instance, like backup jobs, replications jobs, access control management and more.

While most cloud service providers are exploring the applications of AI, as the industry leader Amazon has already taken the lead with Amazon Macie.

How AI can enhance the Cloud Experience?

Enterprises use the cloud for backup and disaster recovery (DR) purposes. Another application of the cloud is for data storage with services such as Google Drive, One drive etc.

Adding AI to Backup & Replication/Disaster Recovery

Consider backup and replication jobs. Conventional practice is that in order to avoid resource consumption and operational discontinuity, backup jobs are scheduled. Imagine having a backup job interrupted and coming back to an unsuccessful backup job. If the backup job was scheduled at day end, that means if there’s a problem, then an entire day’s data is lost. Add in AI to this instance. The AI checks backup jobs and ensures that it is operating, if not then it can either inform IT administrators or re-initiate it. Similarly, replication can be frustrating if you find out after a disaster that your replicated VM (Virtual Machine) wasn’t successfully replicated. That means that even after spending resources, you still cannot failover to the replicated image. With AI, enterprises can make sure that their replicated VMs are in a state where they can be immediately failed over to. This adds efficiency to backup and DR.

Enhancing Cloud Backup with AI

Cloud backup when done on public clouds can have damaging repercussions if not done right. For instance, not long ago, studies indicated that a huge number of sensitive files of the US Government were available in public access on a public cloud storage. This was because Government contractors stored their data on the public cloud with the wrong access controls. In other words, they stored the data and didn’t set them private. Therefore, anyone with the link could access and download those files.

This is the reason why Amazon introduced Amazon Macie. Macie is an AI that employs machine learning to identify sensitive files and then properly classify them. In order to do so, Macie observes behavioral patterns and looks for pre-set file formats. It then identifies the files and checks for their access controls. If there’s any anomaly, it identifies the administrator immediately. This prevents data leakage and ensures data security.

Conclusion

AI is revolutionizing our way of life, technology and many industries alike. Cloud services are no exception to this. Enterprise cloud storage, when paired with AI, can immensely improve how backup is done and it can also ensure that sensitive data remains secure and isn’t leaked by eliminating the human error element.