The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into cybercrime has amplified the potential threats that individuals, businesses, and governments face online. Here’s how cybercriminals can harness AI:
- Phishing Attacks: Traditional phishing attempts can be easily spotted due to generic messages. With AI, cybercriminals can automate and personalize phishing emails in bulk, making them more convincing. By analysing vast amounts of data, AI can craft messages tailored to individual users, increasing the likelihood of deception.
- Password Cracking: AI can predict and generate potential password combinations more efficiently than traditional methods. By analysing patterns in known passwords and considering user information, AI can significantly reduce the time needed to crack a password.
- Malware: AI-driven malware can adapt to its environment. For instance, it can lay dormant when it detects a sandbox environment (often used for malware detection) and activate only when it believes it’s in the target system.
- Evasion: AI can be used to identify patterns used by security systems to detect malicious activity. Once these patterns are known, malware can be designed to avoid detection by constantly adapting its methods.
- Data Harvesting: AI can sift through vast amounts of stolen data to identify valuable information, such as credit card details or personal identification information, making data breaches more lucrative.
- Deepfakes: AI can create hyper-realistic but entirely fake content. This can be used for misinformation campaigns, identity theft, or to create convincing fake audio and video recordings for blackmail.
- Automated Attacks: With AI, cybercriminals can automate tasks at an unprecedented scale, launching massive attacks or scanning vast ranges of IP addresses for vulnerabilities.
- Adversarial Attacks: Cybercriminals can use AI to manipulate data inputs, causing other AI systems, like image recognition systems, to make incorrect decisions or classifications.
While the potential misuse of AI by cybercriminals is concerning, it’s worth noting that the cybersecurity industry is also leveraging AI to counter these threats, creating a continuous cycle of offense and defence in the digital realm. Speak to the cybersecurity team at Archway Securities to see how your organization can combat cybercrime.