The age-old menace of phishing attacks has taken on a new and more sinister form as cybercriminals employ AI-driven tools to craft highly believable phishing emails and text messages. According to the Fortinet 2023 Global Ransomware Report, phishing has emerged as the leading tactic employed by malicious actors, constituting a staggering 56% of their methods to infiltrate networks and launch successful ransomware attacks.
Traditionally, phishing attempts were riddled with obvious errors in spelling and grammar, making them relatively easy to spot. However, the integration of AI-powered content generation tools has enabled cybercriminals to produce phishing communications that are remarkably realistic. The consequence is that unsuspecting victims are increasingly likely to click on malicious links, leading to compromised data and security breaches.
With the proliferation of AI-crafted phishing attempts, employees now play an even more crucial role in safeguarding their organizations against these attacks. Simple advisories to identify the “traditional” attributes of phishing are no longer sufficient to maintain organizational security. Beyond technology-based solutions such as spam filters and multi-factor authentication, employee education has become a make-or-break factor in the battle against phishing and ransomware threats.
