Do you think AI-powered smishing and vishing are far off? Then do think again. (Smishing uses text messages to trick users; vishing relies on voice calls to do the same.)
Today, these social engineering attacking tactics might seem low-level, but the developments in AI-technology is rapidly changing that. With tools that can generate natural-sounding texts and mimic real voices, attacks are getting more sophisticated and convincing. What’s now a minor risk could soon escalate into a widespread and highly effective threat.
The FBI has warned that fraudsters are impersonating "senior US officials" using deepfakes as part of a major fraud campaign.
According to the agency, the campaign has been running since April and most of the messages target former and current US government officials. The attackers are after login details for official accounts, which they then use to compromise other government systems and try to harvest financial account information.
Headlines:
"'AI-generated content has advanced to the point that it is often difficult to identify,' the FBI advised. 'When in doubt about the authenticity of someone wishing to communicate with you, contact your relevant security officials or the FBI for help.'"
"Attackers have used this approach for over five years. The technology needed to run such attacks is so commonplace and cheap that it's an easy attack vector. Deepfake videos have been around for a similar period, although they were initially much harder and more expensive to do convincingly."
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