Here is why AI-based phishing is scarier than you think

Cybercriminals are leveraging AI capabilities to pose serious email-based threats that are not only becoming frequent but also sophisticated and difficult to detect.??

These threats have exposed individuals to the risk of losing their money and compromising their personal and financial information and organizations to the risk of more serious attacks like data breaches and ransomware attacks.??

What makes them dangerous is that, unlike typical phishing emails, they are highly personalized and more effective in fooling their targets into giving up their information.??

Let us explore the risks associated with AI-based cyber threats to understand why we must be prepared against them.?

The rising threat of AI-based phishing??

As organizations discover the potential of AI to unlock improved efficiency, cybercriminals are finding ways to make use of AI to increase the effectiveness of their attacks. They are crafting hyper-personalized emails that utilize information collected by AI bots from their target’s social media accounts and other publicly available information.??

These AI bots enable them to quickly collect huge chunks of information about their targets that they can use to tailor phishing campaigns. They target executives, manipulating them into divulging company-specific or personal information or engaging in financial transactions.?

AI has enabled even low-skilled attackers to craft a phishing email without many language errors. This is one reason why there is an increase in email threats, as low-skilled attackers can easily carry out a phishing attack using AI. There was a 202% increase in the volume of email attacks in 2024 (Zscaler).?

There will be an increase in such AI-based phishing threats in 2025

What are the threats posed by weaponized AI?

AI has enabled cybercriminals to:??

• Collect huge chunks of information about their targets?

Cybercriminals can collect huge chunks of information about their targets using AI bots that collect personal data from social media, websites, etc.??

• Tailor hyper-personalized phishing campaigns?

Cybercriminals can create hyper-personalized emails, leveraging the information collected using AI, fooling their targets into believing that the email is genuine. They might pose as a relative, colleague, or friend.??

• Mask identities based on information collected?

They can impersonate their target and send messages/emails to family members/friends/colleagues to steal personal and financial information that they can use to tailor phishing campaigns.?

• Create malicious websites??

Cybercriminals can use AI to create a malicious website that resembles a genuine one for stealing information or delivering malware payload to their target’s systems by redirecting targets to these sites through phishing.?

• Create new links that are difficult for email security scanners to detect?

AI can be used by cybercriminals to create unique links that cannot be detected by security scanners. 80% of the links in emails based on threats were new and unknown threats in 2024 (Zscaler).?

What can individuals and businesses do to prevent threats??

Cybersecurity experts around the world are figuring out a way to prevent AI-powered cyber-attacks. They are developing AI bots that can detect AI-developed code and content to proactively detect AI-based cyber threats.??

Some best practices can be adopted by organizations and individuals to prevent the threats of AI-based phishing:

For businesses?

• Train users about such threats and make them aware of not clicking on unknown links?

• Consider platformization of cybersecurity that leverages AI for automatic detection and response to threats?

• Use Sender Policy Framework (SPK), Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) to prevent spoofing?

• Set a strong password policy and multi-factor authentication?

• Set a mechanism through which employees can report cyber incidents?

• Stay updated with the latest AI-based threats from reputed threat intelligence sources?

For individuals?

• Set a strong password, change it regularly, and don’t use the same password everywhere?

• Use Multi-factor Authentication and enable notification for login from a different location?

• Know how to recognize phishing emails?

• Avoid sharing personal information on social media?

• Never open suspicious links and attachments?

• Be aware of the latest cyber threats??

• Report such incidents to law enforcement and your organization?

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