Beware of AI-generated phishing attacks; they are so real!

With AI technology growing each day and new automated software being developed, techies are creating more and more advanced software for the general user. Even though we have not unlocked the complete potential of AI, such software is rapidly emerging as a major exploitative source for cyber attacks, that includes even phishing attacks.

As AI software like ChatGPT, Google Bard, Mircosoft Bing, and more such generative AIs are being easily made available to every user out there, hackers have gained access to free tools and software and found new ways to get into people’s devices.

Before diving deep into how AI can be exploited, let’s first understand what is phishing

What is phishing?

This happens when tricksters manipulate smart device owners to click on a malware link that will hack their device. It can be done in various ways according to the HDFC Bank, hackers send you email, text messages, and social media messages and trick you into believing that you are a credible source and steal your personal information such as Customer ID, IPIN, Credit/Debit Card number, Card expiry date, CVV number, etc.

It just takes a click to put yourself in danger. Now phishing attacks are done with the help of generative AIs. AI can also be manipulated into generating Smishing ( Phishing SMS), emails, and more.

AI-generated phishing attacks

With the help of generative AI, tricksters are generating manipulative messages to build your trust in being a credible source and take out your personal information or empty your bank balance.

Various researchers and studies have stated that ChatGPT has not been developed for generating anything that can put individual lives at risk or doing the wrong thing. So, if you ask it to create a phishing message, initially it will reply that it cannot respond to unethical requests.

However, by employing a series of prompts, cybercriminals are able to create convincing and personalized phishing emails that guide individuals to malicious links. This approach effectively reduces the burden on the cybercriminals as innocent people are duped by the perfect way that the phishing attack has been created courtesy AI.

Now, you don’t even require any technological knowledge and such AI software are extremely capable of generating malicious codes that will get into your device and steal your personal data.

Here’s how you can identify a phishing link/website

The ‘s’ at the end of ‘https://’ stands for ‘secure’ which means the page is secured with encryption. Do not click on any link of a website that does not have “s” in ‘http://’.

Check the padlock symbol, it is a digital certificate for that website.

Verify website authenticity by checking its digital certificate. Access it through File > Properties > Certificates or by clicking the Padlock symbol in your browser window.