Artificial intelligence (AI) continually presents new business opportunities. Some companies now use AI-powered systems to assess resumes, comprehend clients better, spot market trends and much more. However, the technology offers new tools for increased success rates and profit margins for hackers.
According to research, 69% of senior executive respondents without artificial intelligence indicated they couldn’t respond to cyberattacks. The same study discovered two-thirds of enterprises intended to deploy AI by 2020, highlighting the responsibility security leaders have to implement this technology in a targeted and beneficial fashion, both inside their organizations and at their email perimeter.
Artificial Intelligence’s Role in Persuasive Phishing Emails
Just as AI is helping organizations detect potential threats, it can also serve as a tool for hackers to perpetrate evil. According to technology researchers, the deep learning language model GPT-3 and other AI-as-a-Service platforms can make spear phishing attacks easier to create than before.
With GPT-3, AI can generate phishing emails crafted to match the personality or interest of the recipients. According to experts, when AI wrote phishing emails, it seemed as though humans wrote them.
Before, it was unclear whether AI could create successful phishing emails. Most phishing emails have a low click-through rate. However, all a hacker needs is one victim to spread malware or destroy a network.
How AI Is Preventing Individuals From Falling Victim to Phishing
Security solutions in the past were mainly reactive — researchers at cybersecurity firms would find new malware samples, analyze them and add them to malware lists. Although the industry continues to employ this strategy, it’s now operating more proactively, particularly in light of concerns posed by social engineering.
Although AI cannot address every cybersecurity issue, it is beneficial for quickly automating decision-making procedures and identifying trends in incomplete or altered information. These algorithms learn from real-world data first, including current security risks, false positives and the most recent threats discovered by experts worldwide. Below are ways AI is changing the world of phishing and other cybersecurity threats.
1. Detects Suspicious Domains
One of the many ways artificial intelligence protects people from phishing is its ability to detect suspicious links quickly. Although it’s impossible to properly categorize all online scams, many prey on fear or target vulnerable individuals. Therefore, it should be no surprise that some fraudsters produce realistic-looking websites, such as those with branded components that claim to provide tech support.
AI algorithms are highly effective pattern-detection tools that outperform antiquated list-based security methods. The model improves and outperforms these systems by spotting new threats with irregular patterns. This level of AI proficiency requires significant learning, which can only be attained with reliable data sources for each danger vector.
2. Intercepts Dangerous Emails
Several internet security companies deter hackers with their in-house AI techniques. Google’s AI is so effective that it blocks 100 million phishing Gmail messages daily, preventing users from falling victim to dubious links.
People may still view the prohibited communications by visiting their spam folders. However, there is less of a possibility they will fall for scams because the messages never reach the email folders people view the most frequently. As a result, AI might foil lottery fraud schemes that entice victims to divulge information so they can claim rewards.
3. Protects Company and Individual Credit Cards From Being Compromised
The adoption of fraud detection systems by merchants and credit card issuers can make it simpler to identify suspected phishing incidents, particularly those coming from online customers. These organizations could replace manual checks with a more automated system thanks to AI. Most employ machine learning — a branch of artificial intelligence — to identify the distinctions between typical card transactions and potentially dangerous anomalies.
But some techniques for detecting fraud are unduly delicate. When someone conducts a significant transaction or purchases goods in an unusual setting, they annoy honest buyers when the sales are rejected as they attempt to complete the transactions.
4. Exposes Fake Reviews
Before people buy from a business, they prefer to read reviews online. Most presume the ratings are the opinions of individuals who have patronized those establishments. However, some reviewers are compensated for creating false articles on locations they have never visited. According to experts, AI programs that identify these fakes will soon become commonplace.
A team from Aalto University intended to use artificial intelligence to detect false reviews. The researchers first asked participants to distinguish between authentic and fake reviews and discovered that up to 60% of the time, consumers mistook the fakes for real ones. The group then created a false-review detection tool and concluded it performed remarkably well in situations when humans could not distinguish between what was real and unreal.
5. Detect Fake Profiles
Another way AI is changing the world of phishing is by detecting fake profiles. The internet makes it easy to meet new people every day — some of whom may have dangerous intentions. This is particularly common on dating sites.
With only a 1% false positive rate, researchers have created an AI algorithm that can detect these fake profiles and users. Although consumers should still use caution when communicating with others online, artificial intelligence may make such frauds less profitable for con artists to attempt.
The Future of Combating Phishing With AI
The ability to warn users before they reach dubious websites — especially phishing sites — is one of the most exciting and valuable developments in AI cybersecurity. Using artificial intelligence to stop new attacks before they surface on industry databases is crucial since social engineering attempts frequently cause the most harm and cause consumers to lose their privacy and money. In the future, more organizations will likely increasingly use AI to thwart phishing and other cyberattacks.
