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As rapidly evolving technology facilitates sophisticated cybercrime, business executives are being bombarded with highly personalized phishing scams generated by artificial intelligence bots.
Major companies including British insurance company Beazley and e-commerce group eBay have warned of an increase in fraudulent emails containing personal information believed to have been obtained through AI analysis of online profiles.
Kirsty Kelly, Chief Information Security Officer at Beasley I suspect that,” he said. “We’re starting to see very targeted attacks that collect huge amounts of information about individuals.”
Cybersecurity experts say AI technology is advancing rapidly as technology companies develop ever more sophisticated systems and race to launch popular products for consumers and businesses. He said attacks are on the rise.
AI bots can quickly ingest large amounts of data about the tone and style of companies and individuals and replicate these characteristics to create convincing deceptions.
It can also collect victims’ online presence and social media activity to determine the topics to which they are most likely to respond, helping hackers generate bespoke phishing scams at scale. I will support you.
“The availability of generative AI tools lowers the threshold for entry into advanced cybercrime,” said Nadezda Demidova, a cybercrime security researcher at eBay. “We have seen an increase in the volume of cyberattacks of all types,” especially “sophisticated and highly targeted” phishing scams, she added.
Kip Mainzer, an executive at security firm Check Point Software Technologies, said at a recent investor conference that AI has given hackers “the ability to write the perfect phishing email.”
According to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, more than 90% of successful cyberattacks begin with a phishing email. As these attacks become more sophisticated, they become increasingly costly, with the global average cost of a data breach rising by nearly 10 percent to $4.9 million in 2024, according to IBM.
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Researchers warn that AI is particularly effective at creating business email compromise scams. This is a specific type of phishing that does not involve malware, where scammers trick recipients into transferring funds or divulging confidential company information. According to the FBI, this type of fraud has cost more than $50 billion worldwide since 2013.
Sean Joyce, global cybersecurity lead at PwC, said AI is being used to “scan everything to see where there are vulnerabilities, whether it’s in the code or in the human chain. ” he said.
Phishing scams generated using AI are also more likely to evade corporate email filters and cybersecurity training.
eBay’s Demidova said basic filters typically block repeated, high-volume phishing campaigns, but when AI is used to quickly generate thousands of paraphrased messages, these scams can be difficult to track. It is said that there is a sex.
