Cybercriminals are constantly adopting new tools and tactics to stay ahead of cybersecurity technology, and their newest secret weapon is artificial intelligence (AI). Instead of sending generic phishing emails, attackers now generate highly personalized messages, clone executive voices, and deploy convincing chatbots for more convincing attacks that are harder to detect.
For your business, the risk is significant. A single convincing message can lead to credential theft, fraudulent payments, or data exposure. Therefore, if you want to protect your business from a devastating cyberattack, you need to understand how AI-driven social engineering attacks work and adjust your current security posture to keep up with the times.
What are “AI-powered” social engineering attacks?
AI-powered social engineering attacks use artificial intelligence to impersonate people, automate conversations, and tailor communications to your organization. Unlike traditional scams, these attacks rely on real information gathered from websites, LinkedIn profiles, press releases, and social media.
Old school phishing attacks typically are generic, full of grammatical errors, and not targeted at anyone in particular to improve reusability. However, AI tools can remove common red flags such as spelling errors and adjust the text to match your company’s or even the CEO’s tone and language. AI can also scrub the internet for personal and professional details, then automatically tailor thousands of phishing messages to individual recipients.
Unfortunately, that’s just the beginning. AI can also replicate the voice or likeness of employees or even you yourself to trick people into revealing passwords or making fraudulent transactions. It can even pose as a real person in real time and chat with unsuspecting victims, building trust slowly over time to launch attacks.
Examples of AI-powered attacks
Let’s examine what some of these attacks might look like.
Advanced AI phishing emails
Your accounting team receives an email that appears to come from a trusted vendor, complete with logos and letterhead, and matching the tone of previous communications. The message references a recent order and requests an updated payment method.
Because the message looks authentic, an employee updates the payment details and processes an invoice, but the funds are actually sent to an attacker-controlled account.
Deepfake voice spoofing
An employee receives a call that sounds like your CEO requesting an urgent wire transfer. The caller explains that the transaction is confidential and time-sensitive. The voice sounds just like the boss, and the request appears legitimate.
However, the call is actually generated using AI voice cloning. If your employee follows the instructions, funds are transferred directly to the attacker, and they now have your financial information.
Malicious AI chatbots
An employee searches online for help with a software issue and finds a chatbot posing as official support. The chatbot walks them through troubleshooting steps and asks them to log in to a secure portal.
The portal is, of course, fake. It captures login credentials and sends them to attackers, who can then use them to access the employee’s account and perhaps other platforms if the employee reuses their password. At that point, they are in your systems and can wreak all kinds of havoc.
How to defend your business from AI scams and attacks
You need to update both your security tools and practices to combat these evolving threats. The effectiveness of these AI-powered attacks also means you need multiple layers of security in case one fails.
Implement multifactor authentication (MFA) everywhere
MFA protects accounts even if credentials are stolen. If an employee falls for an AI-generated phishing message, attackers still cannot log in without the second factor.
Establish verification procedures for sensitive requests
Your employees must verify unusual and/or high-stakes financial transactions and data requests using a second communication method.
For example:
- Confirm wire transfer requests by phone.
- Validate vendor payment changes through known contacts.
- Verify executive requests through internal messaging.
- Require approval for sensitive data sharing.
These procedures stop many social engineering attacks from succeeding.
Train employees to recognize AI-driven scams
Security awareness training should now include AI-based threats. If you don’t have the current knowledge or expertise, enlist a cybersecurity consultant who does to lead the training.
Use email monitoring tools
Fight fire with fire, and utilize AI-powered email filtering and security monitoring tools to detect suspicious communications. This software can analyze behavior, links, and sender patterns to block threats before users interact with them.
Our cybersecurity consultants stay up to date on the latest AI-powered threats to keep our clients safe. Contact XBASE, and we can update your cybersecurity posture to protect you from the newest attacks.