AI-Enhanced Cyber Attacks Pose Major Risk to Businesses
AI-Enhanced Cyber Attacks Pose Major Risk to Businesses
According to a recent report from Gartner, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a significant factor in cyberattacks, representing the greatest risk faced by enterprises for the third consecutive quarter. The consulting firm's survey, which included 286 senior risk and audit executives between July and September, revealed that 80% of respondents expressed deep concern regarding AI-enhanced malicious attacks.
Rising Trend of AI-Driven Attacks
The increasing prevalence of cyberattacks utilizing AI is alarming, as evidence indicates a surge in such incidents. The report outlines several emerging risks, including AI-assisted misinformation, growing political polarization, and misallocation of organizational talent. Cybercriminals are leveraging AI to create sophisticated malware and craft convincing phishing emails. For instance, a malware-spreading email campaign intercepted in June was suspected to have been generated with the help of generative AI, featuring a well-structured script with clear annotations—an uncommon trait in manually written code.
mage Source Note: The image is generated by AI, provided by the image licensing service Midjourney
Business Email Compromise on the Rise
Data from Vipre, a security company, indicates that business email compromise attacks have increased by 20% in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year, with nearly half of these attacks generated by AI. CEOs, HR personnel, and IT staff have become primary targets. Usman Choudhary, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Vipre, noted that criminals are employing advanced AI algorithms to craft phishing emails that closely mimic the tone and style of legitimate communications.
Extensive AI-Driven Attacks on Retail Websites
Further insights from Imperva Threat Research reveal that retail websites experienced an average of 569,884 AI-driven attacks per day from April to September. Researchers have identified the use of tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, as well as bots designed for scraping website data intended for training large language models. These tools are being exploited for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and business logic abuse.
Ethical Hackers Acknowledge AI's Role
The rise of ethical hackers acknowledging the use of generative AI has also increased, with their numbers rising from 64% last year to 77% this year. These researchers have noted that AI can facilitate multi-channel attacks, fault injection attacks, and automated attacks across multiple devices simultaneously. If ethical hackers find AI beneficial, the potential for its misuse by cybercriminals is significant.
AI Lowers Barriers to Cybercrime
The accessibility of AI technology is lowering the barriers to cybercrime, enabling less technically skilled criminals to utilize AI for generating deepfakes, scanning network vulnerabilities, and conducting reconnaissance. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have developed a model capable of solving Google reCAPTCHA v2 with 100% accuracy. Analysts at Radware have predicted that the emergence of private GPT models will lead to an increase in zero-day vulnerabilities and deepfake scams.
New Risks from IT Vendors
Gartner's report also highlights that critical issues with IT vendors have come to the forefront for executives for the first time. Zachary Ginsburg, Senior Director of Gartner's Risk and Audit Practice, warned that organizations relying heavily on a single vendor may face increased risks. This was illustrated by the incident involving dStrike in July, which paralyzed 8.5 million Windows devices globally, impacting emergency services, airports, and law enforcement agencies.
Key Points
- AI-driven cyberattacks are the top threat to enterprises, with 80% of executives concerned.
- Business email compromise attacks increased by 20%, with nearly half generated by AI.
- Retail websites faced nearly 570,000 AI-driven attacks daily from April to September.
- Ethical hackers are increasingly recognizing the use of AI in cyber threats.
- Organizations relying on single vendors face significant risks from cyber incidents.
