Artificial intelligence has become a double-edged sword in cyber security. While it powers better defences, detection, and incident response, it also gives attackers powerful new tools to deceive people. Phishing emails that used to be obvious now read like they were written by a native speaker. Fake voices can impersonate your boss. Deepfakes can spread misinformation. Understanding how AI can trick you is the first step to staying safe.
AI-Powered Phishing and Social Engineering
Phishing has always relied on urgency and plausibility. AI makes both easier. Attackers use large language models to generate convincing emails that:
- Sound human: No more typos, awkward phrasing, or obvious translation errors. AI can mimic tone, style, and context.
- Adapt to you: Scammers can scrape your LinkedIn, website, or public profiles and craft messages that reference your job, interests, or recent activity.
- Scale effortlessly: One attacker can personalise thousands of emails at once, each one tailored to the recipient.
The result? Emails that look like they came from your IT team, your bank, or a colleague asking for a "quick favour." The old tell—broken English or generic greetings—is often gone.
Voice Cloning and Deepfakes
With just a few minutes of audio, AI can clone someone's voice. Scammers have used this to trick employees into transferring money, believing their CEO or a family member is on the line. Deepfakes—synthetic video or images—can show people saying or doing things they never did, undermining trust and spreading disinformation.
What to watch for
- Unexpected voice or video requests: If someone calls or video-calls asking for money, credentials, or urgent action, verify through a separate channel (e.g. call back on a known number).
- Too-good-to-be-true urgency: Legitimate requests rarely demand immediate action with no time to verify.
- Emotional manipulation: Fear, excitement, or pressure to act quickly are common tactics.
How to Protect Yourself
You can't stop AI from being used by bad actors, but you can reduce your risk:
- Verify before you act: For any request involving money, login details, or sensitive data, confirm via a separate channel. Don't reply to the same email or call back the number that called you.
- Enable MFA everywhere: Multi-factor authentication makes stolen passwords far less useful.
- Train your team: Regular security awareness training helps people spot patterns—even when AI makes the bait more convincing.
- Adopt zero-trust thinking: Assume links and attachments could be malicious. Hover to check URLs. Use sandboxed environments for suspicious files.
The Bottom Line
AI is making deception more sophisticated, but the fundamentals of defence remain the same: verify, don't trust blindly, and build habits that protect you when the message looks legitimate. Organisations that invest in security awareness, MFA, and verification processes are far less likely to fall for AI-enhanced attacks.
Need help with a security audit, hardening your systems, or training your team? Get in touch to discuss how we can help.