Meta Description: Don’t let AI-powered scams catch you off guard. Learn how scammers use AI to target you and how to protect your digital life from cyber threats.
Every day we are bombarded with countless headlines about AI, both good and bad. Regardless of our opinions, we should agree that AI is here to stay. Businesses of all sizes praise AI for helping them advance and optimize their processes. People log onto ChatGPT to do the simplest of tasks. It’s okay to get excited about this technological marvel, as long as you use it for something good. Unfortunately, some criminals are getting smarter thanks to AI, and they use that knowledge to target people through cyber-attacks.
What AI Can Be Used For
Fields like healthcare, manufacturing, and finance use AI to eliminate repetitive tasks, automate them, and make processes run more smoothly.
ChatGPT, DALL-E, and MidJourney are examples of AI chatbots that let users create text, images, and videos almost instantly. Are you stuck in a pickle with a marketing idea? Just try ChatGPT for inspiration. This tool makes marketing, entertainment, and teaching more creative.
AI-powered natural language processing (NLP) models take customer service to the next level. These models provide instant language translations, chatbots, and voice-activated assistants that answer questions.
The finance and retail sectors can benefit from AI due to its predictive analytics. AI analyzes customers’ past behavior and predicts future trends.
How AI May Be Used for Evil Purposes
Bad actors and scammers use AI to spread more chaos into the world. They can target you when you least expect it and steal your data within seconds in many different ways.
Creating Believable Phishing Emails
Traditional phishing emails are filled with grammar mistakes or sketchy URLs. They’re easy to spot. Scammers know this, so they use AI to polish them up, and now they look more convincing than ever. It’s nearly impossible to tell them apart from the real ones, especially if you are distracted or in a hurry. Phishing emails are created to trick you into clicking on malicious links. After this, you download malware and open the gates for hackers to steal your data.
Deepfake Technology
AI can generate deepfakes, where images, videos, or voices are manipulated to impersonate someone else. Using deepfakes, bad actors can pretend to be CEOs, coworkers, or even family members. They trick people into sending money, giving out private information, or putting business security at risk.
Malware Development
AI can be used to develop smarter, more adaptive malware. Traditional malware often behaves predictably, but AI-driven malware can change its behaviour based on the environment. You’ll have a hard time detecting and blocking it. Hackers can also use AI to automate the process of finding software vulnerabilities. This, in turn, helps them find newer and faster ways to attack you.
Recognizing AI-Powered Scams and Phishing Techniques
For starters, a phishing email will encourage you to act right away. Legitimate businesses never ask you to do something impulsively without giving you time to check the request.
Next, be extremely careful about giving personal information to anyone via email, text message, or phone call. Don’t do this until you’ve confirmed the request directly with the person or company.
Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown sources, no matter how real the email looks. Hover over the link to see if it directs you to a legitimate website. And always double-check the sender’s email address.
If you get a sudden email or message from a family member to send them money, don’t act right away. If you find the request weird, talk to them through a phone call or a face-to-face meeting.
Tips on Improving Online Safety
To make your online actions safer, use anti-malware software to protect your devices from malicious programs. Ensure that the software includes features to block malware and phishing attempts. Keep your software up to date to protect yourself from the newest threats.
Another smart idea is to use a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN masks your IP address and encrypts your internet connection. Hackers won’t be able to track your online activities and launch attacks against you.
Your second shield against cyber-attacks is multi-factor authentication (MFA). Even if hackers breached your password, they can’t access your account without the second factor. It comes as a fingerprint or a one-time code sent to your phone.