AI amplifies social engineering—stay vigilant and verify twice.

The big challenge for organizations is that social engineering attacks target emotions and evoke thoughts that make us all human. After all, we're used to trusting our eyes and ears, and we want to believe what we're being told. These are all-natural instincts that can't just be deactivated, downgraded, or placed behind a firewall.

Add in the rise of AI, and it's clear these attacks will continue to emerge, evolve, and expand in volume, variety, and velocity.

That's why we need to look at educating employees to control and manage their reactions after receiving an unusual or unexpected request. Encouraging people to stop and think before completing what they're being asked to do. Showing them what an AI-based social engineering attack looks and most importantly, feels like in practice. So that no matter how fast AI develops, we can turn the workforce into the first line of defense.

Here's a 3-point action plan you can use to get started:

1. Talk about these cases to your employees and colleagues and train them specifically against deepfake threats – to raise their awareness, and explore how they would (and should) respond.
2. Set up some social engineering simulations for your employees – so they can experience common emotional manipulation techniques, and recognize their natural instincts to respond, just like in a real attack.
3. Review your organizational defenses, account permissions, and role privileges – to understand a potential threat actor's movements if they were to gain initial access.

As AI enhances social engineering tactics, it is crucial to adopt a proactive security mindset, verify information rigorously, and implement robust defenses to mitigate evolving threats.