AI will change how we create and WHERE. Cybercriminals have new access to tools for phishing attacks and deep-fake-enabled fraud, which have grown in the last two years - along with the ability to simulate voices using sophisticated AI tools. Attackers use AI-generated visual images (video feeds) in virtual meetings to impersonate senior leaders or other people at various organizations; traditional methods of communicating could mislead people who have been trained in security to not trust possible communications.
Many organizations are changing their approaches toward securing their information by detecting more strategies to identify and prevent threats from becoming increasingly real. With the ability to create a false voice to tell an employee to transfer funds or provide sensitive information to his/her boss, there is a significant risk - based on the authenticity of these communications - that employees will not be educated enough to identify culprits attempting to compromise their business.
Phishing attacks utilizing artificial intelligence have advanced greatly in sophistication; previously distinguishable by misspellings and visible indicators of fraud. However, AI-generated emails have the potential to convincingly replicate writing styles, corporate tone/voice, and even previous email threads to whom the impersonated target has received an email from. Attackers could also utilize publicly available information (such as from social media and company websites) to personalize the phishing email. This enhanced personalization greatly increases the probability that the employee will respond/interact with either a malicious link or other infected file attached to it. Organizations must adopt stronger identity verification and secure communication processes to avoid falling victim to fraudulent phishing scams. Additionally, organisations' most sensitive activities (financial transfers, password resets, and data access requests) should have rigorous multi-factor identity verification. Organizations can substantially mitigate their risk of falling prey to fraudulent instructions being processed by implementing verification methods (call backs, secondary authentication approvals, and secure communication protocols).
Technological advancements are also critical for identifying deep-fake-based threats. Advanced security solutions for annotating emails will evaluate patterns related to communications and recognize unusual requests by utilizing behavioral analysis. Likewise, artificial intelligence detection methods will evaluate whether audio or video files were altered based on different criteria such as how the voice sounds, movement of the face within the video, and discrepancies within the metadata. The use of these technologies will provide security teams with the ability to detect potentially harmful behavior at a much earlier stage when looked at along with continuous monitoring.
Employee knowledge is very important as an additional layer of security. Training programs should train employees on real life deep-fake scams and phishing through artificial intelligence so that the employee is aware of how these types of scams work. In addition to having the employee educated about deepfake and AI phishing scams, the organization should also support their employees in verifying unordinary requests, especially if they deal with urgent financial requests or sensitive material. The organization should foster a culture that supports the employee to question atypical communications to help decrease the chances of the realization of deep-fake-based theft.
Defending against deep-fake-based fraud requires an understanding of the combination of technology, processes, and awareness. With the increase in the number of hackers who are able to utilize artificial intelligence to make their scams more believable, companies will need to put into place a proactive approach to security that will focus on how to verify, observe, and react quickly in situations like this.
By focusing on more advanced ways to detect threats and utilizing robust verification techniques, businesses are better equipped to fend off fraud committed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) prior to the resulting financial or reputational consequences occurring. As such, security teams must continue to adjust their security processes to keep up with today's rapidly evolving threat environment in which AI technologies are becoming more common in configures being utilized as weapons.
Ancrew Global also works with businesses to enhance their security stance through the usage of frameworks used for detecting potential threats, phishing simulation tool, and by providing monitoring services aimed at detecting emerging threats such as AI-based attacks and deepfake-enabled fraud.