The Negative Side of AI: Phishing Scams Have Become Smarter and Dangerous, According To Reports
The Negative Side of AI: Phishing Scams Have Become Smarter and Dangerous, According To Reports
According to a cybersecurity company’s Phishing Report, phishing techniques have drastically changed, with attackers now prioritizing accuracy over quantity. The research cautions that although there was a 20% decrease in phishing activities worldwide in 2024, this seeming decrease is deceptive. Phishing attacks are becoming more sophisticated, individualized, and challenging to identify, particularly when human-centric lures are used to target high-value departments like finance, payroll, and human resources.
The study provides a thorough examination of how phishing has developed into a tool for targeted social engineering, frequently using phony tech support, job offers, and cryptocurrency alerts as entry points. It is based on an analysis of more than 2 billion phishing attempts that the company’s cloud security platform has blocked in the last 12 months.
Phishing Volume Declines, But Attacks Are More Clever and Riskier
Due in significant part to the increased use of email security standards like DMARC and Google’s sender authentication filters, which prevented 265 billion unauthenticated emails in 2024, phishing in the US decreased by about 32%. The US continues to be the most targeted nation in the world despite these advancements.
Phishing assaults on the education industry, on the other hand, increased by 224% as attackers took advantage of deadlines for financial aid, exam periods, and academic calendars. The company points out that many of the sector’s institutions are soft targets because they still rely on antiquated infrastructure and have insufficient defenses.
Scams involving cryptocurrencies are another serious hazard area. Decoy platforms and fake wallets are being used to trick people into falling into credential harvesting scams. Users are tricked into inputting wallet passwords and other private information by these phishing pages, which frequently imitate authentic transaction alerts.
Top Phishing Techniques: CAPTCHAs, Voice Scams, and False Job Offers
The research highlights several noteworthy developments, one of which is the increase in voice phishing, sometimes known as vishing. Attackers are increasingly fooling staff members into instantly disclosing login credentials by posing as internal IT teams and making fake assistance calls. In order to make phishing sites seem more legitimate and get beyond automated detection techniques, the company has noticed an increase in the use of CAPTCHA difficulties.
On sites like LinkedIn and Telegram, job scams are still very common. In order to establish credibility, attackers frequently use live chats and phony onboarding paperwork to pose as recruiters or technical support representatives. The company documented more than 159 million phishing attempts worldwide in 2024 alone.
Zero Trust Strategy Crucial as Attackers Refine Their Methods
The company cautions that phishing is now a professionally planned attack vector rather than a mass-mail annoyance. Even when phishing efforts get past conventional protections, the company’s Zero Trust Exchange platform actively blocks both initial compromise and lateral transfer. It blocks complex phishing payloads and limits harm from compromised accounts by utilizing features like browser isolation, dynamic access limitations, and real-time decryption of encrypted traffic.
The business emphasizes that phishing will continue to target human weakness in the future, with attackers honing psychological strategies and concentrating on platforms with a high user trust rating. To stay ahead, organizations are being advised to invest in zero trust architecture, decrease excessively liberal access, and increase internal knowledge.
About The Author:
Yogesh Naager is a content marketer who specializes in the cybersecurity and B2B space. Besides writing for the News4Hackers blogs, he also writes for brands including Craw Security, Bytecode Security, and NASSCOM.
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