AI has given cybercriminals the ability to operate like FTSE100‑scale marketing departments—except their product is taking over accounts, data theft, and identity fraud.
email was the weapon of choice for phishing attacks. However, they now occur across non-email channels such as social media, search engines, and messaging apps. Poor grammar and spelling can no longer be relied upon to detect malicious messages. Cybercriminals increasingly use AI to create highly personalised, scalable, and convincing phishing campaigns that resemble genuine communications.
This next generation of phishing is faster, smarter, and more dangerous than ever. Cybercriminals have always relied on psychological manipulation by building trust, creating urgency, and exploiting emotion.
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AI vastly improves that strategy through:
- Highly personalised messages created with personal and behavioural data scraped from social media, breached databases, and Dark Web sources
- Flawless grammar and tone, eliminating a common red flag
- Automated, dynamic conversations across email, SMS, and collaboration tools that mimic colleagues or executives
Also see: Spear-Phishing Is On The Increase
Phishing that once required manual effort and time can now be launched at scale. Threat actors can deploy thousands of individualised attacks instantly, automation is now a very strong tool in these lowlifes arsenal.
AI-powered phishing is no longer just about stealing login details. It now enables continuous identity exploitation, creating fundamental cybersecurity challenges:
- AI-generated documents and synthetic identities can bypass weak verification
- Fraudulent onboarding can provide legitimate-looking access to sensitive systems
- Once inside, attackers can use AI to automate lateral movement and escalate privileges
However, organisations must recognise that identity is now the most valuable—and most vulnerable—target. Only by modernising defence strategies and embracing phishing‑resistant identity protection which will ironically include AI can they hope to outpace the next wave of AI‑driven threats.
Also see: AI Is Scary
It is typical of modern day cyber warfare, where it feels like a losing battle but we must fight anyway against the tyrants. The tyrants being criminals with no thought for the people whom they are stealing from and just see AI as another invaluable tool in their underhanded criminal empire.
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