Teaming Humans with Virtual Assistants to Detect and Mitigate Vulnerabilities

The use of virtual assistants has grown significantly in recent years. This growth can be attributed to the prevalence of mobile devices and advances in the Internet of Things (IoT). While virtual assistants are widely used for interpersonal and social purposes such as ordering items from restaurants, creating reminders, and communicating with peers, their use is limited in cybersecurity and other computational sciences. In this research, we develop a framework that teams humans with virtual assistants on mobile devices in an effort to encourage the use of vulnerability detectors to mitigate errors in software and their underlying networks and systems. Creating effective cyber defenses involves teaming humans with machines in a way that enables secure orchestration, real-time communication, and unity of action. We demonstrate that a seamless coordination between human and AI can help minimize the number of errors in software systems, which will ultimately reduce data breaches and other cyber-related challenges plaguing our world.