Today’s cybersecurity teams face an invisible enemy that never sleeps: AI-powered attacks. In the wrong hands, AI can easily ramp up the speed and scale of attacks. It can also remove some of the red flags associated with suspicious emails, such as misspellings and faulty information, making it easier to deceive recipients.
Consider these statistics:
- 93% of security leaders predict that by the end of this year, they will encounter AI-driven attacks daily.
- 40% of BEC emails, a type of phishing attack aimed at businesses, are now created using artificial intelligence.
- 61% of organizations have experienced an increase in deep-fake attacks this year.
- 60% of IT professionals believe their companies are not prepared to combat AI security threats.
With so much at stake, IT leaders need to understand the nature and scope of the risk so they can prepare for it.
Let’s consider four ways AI can escalate your risk of a cyber attack.
4 Ways AI Increases the Risk of a Cyber Attack
Criminal groups don’t necessarily need extensive resources or expertise anymore. They can simply deploy AI systems that work around the clock, constantly learning and adapting their tactics based on what works best.
AI ramps up cyber threats through:
Increased Automation and Scale
Automated AI campaigns can target thousands of organizations simultaneously. Using AI, threat actors can continuously scan for vulnerabilities, test different attack vectors, and adjust tactics based on success rates without having to personally monitor the process.
AI has also made it easy for cybercriminals to scale their operations quickly. Efforts like crafting emails or scanning networks that previously took hours of human labor can now be done in seconds with AI. This drastically lowers the cost and expertise needed to launch sophisticated attacks. It also gives criminal groups additional bandwidth to coordinate complex campaigns and adapt tactics in real time without human oversight.
Increased Exploitation of Human Vulnerabilities
AI excels at exploiting human psychology and behavior patterns to breach security. For example:
- Hyper-personalized phishing emails – Advanced language models allow AI to generate emails that sound like legitimate communications from your boss, family member, or credit card company.
- Deepfake technology – With deepfakes, cybercriminals can create convincing voice and video impersonations that bypass human verification instincts. If the caller sounds like your boss, you’ll be more likely to comply with the request.
- Social engineering – AI can analyze social media and corporate communications to exploit specific individual vulnerabilities. Attackers can leverage this information to simultaneously launch thousands of personalized social engineering attacks.
Advanced Malware Attacks
AI transforms traditional malware into intelligent, adaptive threats that can automatically generate new variants, each crafted to bypass specific security measures. AI-powered malware learns from failed attempts, evolving its code and attack patterns to become more effective over time.
This continuous adaptation means that each new malware variant is more sophisticated and harder to detect than its predecessors. Malware can also analyze defense systems to identify optimal attack conditions, remaining dormant until an opportunity arises and then altering its code to bypass security.
Lowered Barrier of Entry for Hackers
Anyone with access to the right AI tools can now launch attacks that once required a team of skilled hackers. These ready-to-use systems automatically handle complex technical work, from finding weaknesses to crafting convincing scams. The technical barriers to cybercrime have crumbled, resulting in more attackers, more frequent attacks, and a wider range of targets.
AI Can Be a Force for Good, Too
AI isn’t all bad news for cybersecurity, however. When used proactively, it can also be your strongest defensive asset. According to the Ponemon Institute, 70% of cybersecurity professionals believe that AI can be effectively used to detect threats that couldn’t be detected previously.
Here’s how AI can help you reduce your risk:
- Real-time network monitoring – Flag suspicious activities like unexpected data transfers.
- Automated email scanning – Analyze writing patterns, sender behaviors, and content to detect subtle signs of AI-generated phishing attempts.
- Instant threat response – Isolate compromised systems immediately before attacks can spread.
- Identifying compromised credentials – Monitor user activity to spot unusual logins or behavior patterns that may indicate credential theft.
- Vulnerability detection – Identify system weaknesses before attackers can exploit them.
Even better, AI security is a self-evolving defense system that gets smarter with every attempted attack. Just as malware can self-adapt and “learn” from previous attack attempts, AI security tools can learn from each threat to prevent future attacks.
The Future of Cybersecurity Starts Today
In the future, the most effective cybersecurity measures will combine human expertise with AI capabilities. Companies that adopt AI security tools now will be better positioned to respond to the rapidly evolving capabilities of AI – both positive and negative. This includes implementing AI-powered security tools, training teams to recognize AI-generated threats, and developing response strategies for automated attacks.
Automated solutions like privileged access management tools and password managers can also help reduce your vulnerability to social engineering and human error. Talk to CyberFOX to learn how we can help you keep the bad guys out.