Cybercriminals who use AI to defraud people sound intimidating and impossible to defend against, but protecting yourself is straightforward according to cybersecurity expert Dr Katie Paxton-Fear.
Cybercriminals are using artificial intelligence (AI) to not only make their scams appear more convincing, but also to target even more people than they could without it. While Vodafone research found that businesses were concerned about the ability of their employees to identify and avoid such scams, individuals shouldn’t be complacent.
“With AI, scammers and fraudsters can now do attacks on a much larger scale than they could before when they were limited by, for example, the number of people they employed,” Dr Katie Paxton-Fear told Vodafone UK News.
Dr Paxton-Fear, an experienced cybersecurity researcher and lecturer on the subject at Manchester Metropolitan University, gave an example of the kind of AI-enhanced scams that ordinary people may encounter:
“We’re seeing the rise of deep fakes. That’s where somebody clones a voice or likeness, usually of a celebrity, using them as spokespeople to promote investment scams. We’ve seen a lot of finance influencers, people like Elon Musk and Martin Lewis, have their voice and likeliness cloned in order to be puppeteered.
“AI voice cloning only needs 30 seconds of you speaking in order to clone your voice fairly convincingly.”
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Debunking myths and misconceptions
Given the sophistication of deep fakes, it may be tempting to feel apathetic or fatalistic, resigning yourself to becoming a victim, convinced that there’s little you can do.
“While I empathise with that point of view, I think it’s wrong”, said Dr Paxton-Fear. “Knowledge is power. The more you know about these threats, the less chance they will work on you”.
Alternatively, it may be tempting to think that you’ll never become the target of cybercriminals, that they’ll go after someone else, such as big businesses or the rich and famous. Once again, Dr Paxton-Fear advises against complacency.
“Generally, in the past, scammers have been very selective in their victims, going for easy targets. That’s why we often tend to hear about less technically-inclined people getting scammed. With AI, the scammers now have a massive fishing net. So, scale is not a problem for them as it was before”.
Anyone that remembers how computing was in the 1980s and 90s, when the dominant security threat was virus-infected files, should no longer think of cybersecurity solely in such terms.
“I think most cybersecurity threats are more about convincing people to do something risky, then something like a malicious file. The weakest link in any computer system is always going to be the people,” said Dr Paxon-Fear.
Nothing to fear: Dr Katie’s tips on protecting yourself against online fraud
Don't trust
contact from phone numbers and e-mail addresses that you don't recognise.
Be wary of unexpected messages.
For example, if you're getting a message from a courier and you not expecting anything a delivery, don't click on that delivery link - just ignore it.
Take a step back
and make sure that you're not pressured into making a decision – especially if you’re being asked for payment.
Remember that fraudsters follow trends.
Fraudsters will often theme their scams around things that are popular but limited in supply, such as Oasis or Taylor Swift tickets, so be wary of any such ‘offers’.
Use a password manager
so that you’re not reusing the same password for multiple accounts. That way, if one of your accounts is compromised, your others are not.
Remember that older types of scams are still a threat.
Dodgy texts, emails and webpages will continue to exist alongside deep fakes and voice cloning.
Protect yourself against impersonators
with security questions that only people you know and legitimate businesses would know the answers to. “When did we last have dinner?” or “What was my last order?”, for example.
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