The New Frontier of Deception: AI-Powered Social Engineering Threats

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a leading technological advancement in our society. From personal use to the workforce, it is being utilized more and more every day. While artificial intelligence can be used for beneficial and important tasks, it can also be used in malicious ways. One method AI will be utilized in a malicious way is through social engineering attacks. Social engineering is the practice of manipulating individuals in order to gain sensitive or confidential information from them. It is done in various ways including manipulating, deceiving, and influencing a victim to gain their trust. The attacker usually conducts research about the victim, learning what they do and what their interests are. Using the information they gained, they then contact the victim to attempt to gain their trust. Once successful, the deceived victim feels comfortable enough to reveal the sensitive information the attacker was looking for. The attack is now complete and the attacker leaves with the stolen information. Social engineering is already a massively successful form of attack, but artificial intelligence will make it even more efficient and successful.

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There are endless possibilities for attackers to utilize AI during social engineering attacks. Here are a few examples of what they might do:

Utilizing AI Deepfake technology to deceive victims

Deepfake technology has become extremely viable with the improvements of artificial intelligence. It is now entirely possible to impersonate a trusted and respected individual with the help of advanced deepfake technology. People are more likely to trust someone that they know or have seen before. Attackers can utilize this deepfake technology to deceive a victim into trusting the attacker with valuable information.

Research and analyze social media with AI to sound more personable to targets

Since one of the most important aspects of social engineering is gathering information, the utilization of AI will only make gathering information easier and faster. Instead of manually researching each target and crafting personal messages to deceive them, they can now use AI to do it for them.

Efficiently and easily create websites, social media accounts, and emails to seem more trustworthy to the target

Another crucial aspect of today’s social engineering techniques is the creation of lookalike websites, social media accounts, and emails. These are created to imitate a legitimate person, company, or other trustworthy entity. A victim is more likely to believe an attacker if they have an email, website, or social media account that looks legitimate. Creating and crafting these takes time and effort for the attacker. With the assistance of AI, they are able to create them much more quickly and easily than before.

What you can do to protect yourself from AI-driven social engineering attacks

In an era of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats and improvements to artificial intelligence, it is becoming more and more difficult to stay safe from social engineering attacks. It is crucial to adopt a proactive approach to your digital security. Here are some key strategies you can use to protect yourself from AI-driven social engineering attacks:

• Always independently verify requests for sensitive information

• Only contact organizations using their official contact information.

• Question unexpected communications even if the source seems trustworthy

• Trust your instincts if something feels off or feels too good to be true

By adopting these strategies, individuals can significantly reduce their risk of falling victim to AI-powered social engineering attacks. Stay safe!