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Due to rapid advancements in generative artificial intelligence (AI), the threat landscape in cybersecurity has expanded significantly. Using AI, malicious threat actors can now create more advanced and realistic phishing emails and other methods of impersonation. Feeding AI algorithms with information readily available on the internet provides opportunities to imitate a brand’s voice – a serious concern for businesses.
By utilizing generative AI, threat actors can create phishing emails that are virtually indistinguishable from genuine communications. These AI-powered phishing attacks can be highly convincing, making it difficult for humans to identify them as fraudulent. As a result, businesses are at a higher risk of falling victim to these sophisticated attacks.
Generative AI is also being used to impersonate CEOs and other key personnel within an organization. Much like mimicking a brand, threat actors use AI to replicate these individuals’ communication styles and mannerisms. This can lead to targeted attacks that specifically exploit relationships and trust within a business network.
In this article, we’ll learn about three types of phishing attacks that a threat actor are actively using in today’s business world:
And we’ll discuss five ways to thwart AI-driven threats for greater business cybersecurity:
- Multi-Factor Authentication
- Employee Education and Awareness
- Advanced Threat Detection Systems
- Regular Software Updates and Patches
- Data Encryption and Access Controls
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Today’s Top Phishing Concerns for Businesses
As generative AI technology advances, businesses face heightened security risks from threat actors harnessing AI to create sophisticated phishing attacks.
To better understand the potential risks associated with generative AI in cybersecurity, let's look at three of the most common examples of AI-powered phishing attacks that we’ve seen emerging recently:
Highly Personalized Emails
Generative AI algorithms permit threat actors to craft phishing emails tailored to individual recipients. Leveraging a target’s social media profiles, online activity, and other publicly available information provides opportunities to craft AI-generated emails that appear highly relevant and trustworthy.
Voice Phishing (Vishing)
Generative AI can even simulate the voices of known individuals within an organization, enabling threat actors to engage in voice phishing (“vishing”) attacks. By impersonating a trusted colleague or superior, threat actors can manipulate employees into revealing sensitive information or performing unauthorized actions.
Impersonation of Customer Support
AI-powered chatbots can be trained to mimic the language and tone used by a company's customer support team. This enables threat actors to impersonate legitimate customer support agents and deceive customers into sharing personal or financial information.
These examples highlight the potential dangers that generative AI poses in the realm of cybersecurity. It is crucial for businesses to be aware of these threats and take proactive measures to protect themselves.
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How to Mitigate AI-Driven Threats
To safeguard against the rising threats of generative AI security concerns, businesses must implement robust cybersecurity measures.
Here’s five tactics that we suggest all businesses include in their quest to mitigate AI-driven cybersecurity threats:
Multi-Factor Authentication
Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of security to prevent unauthorized access. To reduce generative AI security risks and the chances of successful phishing attacks, businesses should require multiple forms of verification. For example, a password and a unique code sent to a user’s mobile device is an effective deterrent.
Employee Education and Awareness
Training employees on identifying and handling phishing attacks is crucial. Conducting regular workshops on cybersecurity and generative AI data security programs keeps phishing top of mind. It also provides opportunities to reinforce techniques for spotting suspicious emails or messages.
Advanced Threat Detection Systems
Deploying advanced threat detection systems can help identify and block AI-generated phishing attacks. These systems leverage machine learning algorithms to analyze email content, metadata and user behavior patterns to identify potential threats.
Regular Software Updates and Patches
Keeping all software and systems up to date is essential to address known vulnerabilities that threat actors might exploit. Consistently applying security patches and updates helps safeguard against emerging threats, including those driven by generative AI.
Data Encryption and Access Controls
Encrypting sensitive data and implementing strict access controls can help mitigate the risk of data breaches. Two ways to minimize the business impact of potential breaches are giving authorized personnel exclusive access to sensitive information, and encrypting data both at rest and in transit.
By implementing these cybersecurity measures, businesses can enhance their resilience against generative AI-driven threats and protect their valuable assets and information.
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