‘Cybercriminals are using AI to intensify online attacks,’ an expert warns

ARTIFICIAL intelligence helps cybercriminals create even more convincing scams that can empty your bank account.

We spoke to James McQuiggan, a security awareness expert at KnowBe4, about the increasing threats and how to avoid them.

“AI significantly improves the sophistication of online scams and social engineering and increases the sophistication of romance and deepfake scams.

“With the ability to generate highly realistic and personalized content, scammers can now create compelling deepfake audio recordings in real time using audio and video from social media sources, all in an effort to manipulate the audio to trick their targets into believing they are a friend or loved one.

“This action poses a significant challenge for both individuals and organizations as traditional fraud detection methods may no longer be sufficient in the face of AI-generated scams.

“Cybercriminals are using AI to take their online attack methods to the next level,” McQuiggan told us.

The ability to clone someone’s voice and use it in phone call scams is now so easy that sophisticated criminals only need about three seconds of audio to do it.

According to McAfee specialists, even a short three-second clip can reproduce your voice with 70 percent accuracy.

Fortunately, there are still some telltale signs to look out for when corresponding with an AI scammer.

“Look for unnatural or repetitive language patterns, unusually quick responses, and a lack of understanding or empathy in the conversation.

“Additionally, asking specific, open-ended questions that require contextual understanding can help reveal whether you are dealing with a human or an AI.

“The cybercriminals will respond in real time or with staged messages.

“By asking random questions or asking for a predetermined codeword, cybercriminals can easily detect that they are using deepfake technologies to attack the victim,” McQuiggan advises.

The expert also flagged deepfake videos as an urgent issue.

“The increase in AI-generated videos is poised to fuel the prevalence of deepfake scams.

“As AI becomes more adept at creating realistic and immersive videos in real-time, the potential grows for malicious actors to abuse this technology for fraudulent purposes.

“It is an urgent concern for individuals and businesses as the risk of falling victim to sophisticated deepfake scams escalates,” he warned.