The rapid development of artificial intelligence has brought opportunities to all walks of life, and has also given rise to new types of cyber crimes. Phishing scams are becoming more subtle and difficult to identify with the help of artificial intelligence technology. Scammers use AI technology to collect personal information and construct highly personalized phishing emails, making it more difficult for victims to detect the traps. This article takes a closer look at how artificial intelligence is being used in phishing scams, and how businesses and individuals can combat this growing challenge.
With the continuous advancement of artificial intelligence technology, phishing scam methods are becoming more subtle and intelligent. This type of scam attempts to extract sensitive data from innocent victims, usually via email or social media messages, masquerading as a trustworthy source. Today, fraudsters are using artificial intelligence bots and personalized messages to make these scams increasingly difficult to identify, leading to an unprecedented rise in cybercrime.
Scammers use artificial intelligence technology to continuously scrape company or personal information on social media. These programs can collect a wealth of information about someone's social media habits, topics of interest, and their associations. Armed with these specific details, cybercriminals can easily construct effective large-scale phishing schemes that mimic the tone and style of real individuals. It is worth noting that phishing scams targeting corporate executives have also increased significantly recently. "This is getting more and more serious and it's becoming very personal, and we suspect artificial intelligence is behind it," Kirsty Kelly, chief information security officer at British insurance company Beazley, told the Financial Times in an interview. "We're starting to see some very carefully orchestrated attacks that are able to capture a lot of information about someone."
While cybercriminals are adept at using phishing tactics to steal information, businesses can also use artificial intelligence to fight back against these cybercriminals. Developers are working to create equally intelligent AI bots to help detect AI-generated content and code and block attacks before they occur. According to a PYMNTS survey, more than half of companies are already using some form of artificial intelligence to combat cybercrime, and many respondents expect that within the next seven years, artificial intelligence will be fully used to combat cybercrime.
In addition to technical means, employee training is also crucial. Teaching employees at all levels how to identify phishing emails and stay up to date on the latest scam techniques can help companies avoid paying huge compensation and avoid embarrassing cyber attack announcements, such as the cyber attack that Stop & Shop suffered in November 2024.
Facing increasingly complex network security threats, enterprises and individuals need to be more vigilant and actively learn and apply new security technologies and preventive measures. Only through a combination of technical means and employee training can we effectively combat artificial intelligence-driven phishing scams and ensure information security.