Security First - The Rise of AI in Cybercrime
As Cybersecurity Awareness Month wraps up, we’re lookingahead to one of the fastest-growing challenges in the digital world: ArtificialIntelligence (AI). While AI brings powerful tools to help us detect andrespond to threats, it also gives cybercriminals new ways to attack.
How Cybercriminals Use AI
AI is no longerjust a buzzword, it’s a weapon. Cybercriminals are using it to:
· Phishing at scale: Generate phishingemails that sound urgent and authentic, mimicking company tone and branding totrick employees. This is expanding quickly to include Adversarial AIthat is not only urgent and automated but also learn your company’s tone tobots that manipulate public sentiment, AI is being weaponized in ways thatchallenge traditional cybersecurity models.
· Deep-fake deception: Create fake audioand video to impersonate executives or employees. We talked about “AIslop” in previous newsletters
· Automated system scanning: AI bots canrapidly scan networks for weaknesses and launch attacks faster than everbefore.
· Smarter malware: AI helps malware evolveand evade detection
How To Stay Ahead
· Verify AI content: Treat anythingAI-generated as unverified until confirmed.
· Use AI thoughtfully: Always review theoutput before acting or sharing. AI hallucinates.
· Verify unusual requests: If a message orcall feels off, especially from someone in leadership, verify it through awell-known trusted channel.
· Report early: If something feels off,report it. Early alerts can stop fraud before it spreads.
Statistic: AI-powered cyberattacks are nowthe #1 concern for 80% of Chief Information Security Officers. Source: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2025/ai-creates-cyber-risks-can-resolve-them
Real World Impact
A finance employee at a multinational company in HongKong was tricked into transferring $25.6 million after receiving a fake emailfrom someone posing as the CFO, followed by a video call featuring AI-generateddeepfakes of the CFO and other staff. The realistic voices and faces convincedhim the transaction was legitimate. The scam was only discovered after thefunds were sent when he contacted the real head office staff.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/04/asia/deepfake-cfo-scam-hong-kong-intl-hnk
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