AI – friend or foe?

Healthfirst, a New York-based insurer, reports a significant increase in email impersonation attempts over the past two years. Is AI helping to facilitate this trend? Leading technology consulting companies such as Gartner believe hackers use AI to generate more stealthy messages using techniques learned from cyber security defense software. 

Phishing emails grew by 1,265% in the 12 months starting when ChatGPT was publicly released, with an average of 31,000 phishing attacks sent daily, according to an October 2023 report by cybersecurity vendor SlashNext.

How can we protect ourselves from these potentially disruptive and often devastatingly costly attacks?

Cyber security best practices include cyber security training for employees. Being able to recognize phishing emails and other forms of deceptive messages is the first line of defense against cyber-attacks for any organization because the vast majority of successful breaches occur when an email is opened, a link is clicked, and a password is entered in order to follow the instructions in the email. 

Effective cyber security training includes frequent, unexpected phishing emails sent to employees and monitoring of their responses. One-time training exercises are ineffective as the hackers are raising the bar daily.

If you do not have cyber security training in your stack of proactive IT services, you should act now to have your IT team implement it. The investment is minimal, especially as compared to the cost of downtime, remediation, and loss of reputation due to cyber attacks.  

AI is neither friend nor foe; it is a tool, and like any tool, if used properly and safely, it can be an asset.