Artificial intelligence is lowering the barrier for cybercriminals and speeding up their attacks, experts said at a cybersecurity symposium. The same technology is also helping companies defend against them.
Speakers said AI allows hackers to move faster than ever with far less skill. Attacks that once required real expertise can now be carried out by almost anyone.
“Everything that hackers are doing now is at a speed that we’ve never seen before,” said Jake Carroll, vice president of partner enablement at Inforcer. “So our ability as small businesses and as technology providers to react to what’s happening, we’re on our back foot.”
Fake videos and cloned voices can now be made cheaply with AI, experts said.
“For $5, I can create a deepfake video of anyone, anyone from the CEO to the president of the United States,” said Tyler Wrightson, founder of Leet Cyber Security.
Hackers are not only targeting businesses, Wrightson said. They are also going after everyday people.
“They’re getting phone calls from relatives saying, ‘I’m stuck on the side of the road, I need $1,000. I need $10,000 to get out of jail,’” Wrightson said. “They may get a phone call from somebody that sounds exactly like them and that’s what’s happening.”
The FBI says many criminals are after money, and AI is helping them get it faster. The agency’s advice for avoiding fraud starts with skepticism.
“The thing I find myself telling people the most is just don’t trust people you’ve never met in person or had the opportunity to interact with face to face,” said Kyle Neuberger, a supervisory special agent with the FBI.
Beyond that, Neuberger said, the basics still matter at work and at home.
“Making sure that you have a strong alphanumeric password and utilizing multi-factor authentication,” he said.
Cybersecurity companies are also turning to AI, and it is already helping them and their clients, said Dustin Sitton, CEO of Insight Automation.
“It can help because it’s great at detecting anomalies, right? So you can find problems faster,” Sitton said.
For businesses without a cybersecurity company watching their backs, Wrightson said the most important step is training employees.
“The number one thing that organizations can do right now is to train everyone,” he said. “It starts with education. Everyone needs to be aware, this is now easy and it’s happening now.”
Experts said the trend is not going away anytime soon, because attackers and defenders will both keep using AI to stay one step ahead.
The FBI asks anyone targeted by cybercriminals to report it quickly at ic3.gov.