AI: the tool that is revolutionising industries, saving lives, and… creating phishing emails so realistic they could fool all but the most aware security-conscious individuals. Yes, Artificial Intelligence is truly a double-edged sword in the world of cyber security, and if you are not keeping up, you’re falling behind.
Let us explore how AI is both a hero and a villain in the cyber security landscape, and how we at Evolve North can help you stay ahead of the curve.
The Dark Side: How Cyber Criminals Use AI
Unfortunately, cyber criminals do not take holidays, and they are always on the lookout for new ways to exploit technology. Enter AI, their shiny new toy.
AI-Driven Phishing Attacks:
Gone are the days of clunky, poorly worded phishing emails. AI is now being used to craft highly personalised and convincing phishing emails. These messages analyse publicly available information to mimic the style of legitimate communication, making them frighteningly hard to spot. Even the savviest of us might hesitate: “Did I really forget to pay that invoice?”
Business Email Compromise (BEC) Schemes
AI’s natural language processing capabilities allow attackers to mimic corporate communications with uncanny accuracy. Entire email threads can be hijacked, prolonged, and weaponised to steal money or sensitive data—all without raising suspicion.
Deepfakes and Automated Exploits
AI can also create deepfake videos or voices to impersonate business leaders or colleagues, adding a whole new dimension to fraud. Additionally, automated vulnerability scanning tools use AI to find weaknesses in systems faster than ever before.
Emerging AI Tools for Fraud
Cyber criminals are also using General Purpose AI systems to automate tasks like password cracking or bypassing CAPTCHA challenges, making their operations more efficient and harder to detect.
Data Protection
Personal data may be used within AI solutions and ensuring this is carried out in line with Data Protection requirements may be challenging. Personal data used to train AI may become embedded and less easy to access or remove and explaining how personal data is processed in an AI tool to data subjects can also be more difficult. There is also the possibility of biased outputs when AI solutions are trained on data that does not represent the people you are dealing with.
The Bright Side: How AI Strengthens Cyber Security
But it’s not all doom and gloom. When wielded responsibly, AI is one of the most powerful tools we have for defending against cyber threats.
Smarter Threat Detection
AI-powered tools can sift through oceans of data to identify patterns and anomalies that signal malicious activity. From detecting a phishing campaign to identifying unusual login behaviour, AI ensures faster, more accurate threat detection than traditional methods ever could.
Proactive Risk Management
AI does not just wait for a breach to happen—it gets ahead of the game. It can prioritise vulnerabilities, recommend patches, and even predict potential attack vectors based on historical data. Consider it your cyber security crystal ball.
Enhanced Data Protection
With AI, you can monitor sensitive information 24/7. Tools can alert you to suspicious activity, helping to prevent data breaches before they happen. It is like having a security guard for your data, but one who never sleeps.
Regulatory Compliance
Navigating laws like the UK GDPR and PECR can feel overwhelming, but AI tools can streamline compliance by monitoring activities, flagging risks, and ensuring processes align with regulations.
Improved Response Time
AI accelerates incident response by analysing attack vectors in real-time and suggesting appropriate countermeasures. This reduces downtime and limits damage during an attack.
Balancing Innovation with Risk: The Regulatory Landscape
AI’s power requires responsibility, and governments are starting to take notice. The EU’s evolving AI regulations are a good example. They focus on balancing innovation with risk by categorising AI systems into:
- Prohibited AI: Systems that are simply too dangerous to be allowed (think: untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet).
- High-Risk AI Systems (HRAIS): Used in areas like critical infrastructure, these require strict oversight.
- General Purpose AI (GPAI): Including those that are expected to have a high impact (GPAISR).
For non-compliance, the fines are eye-watering: up to €35 million or 7% of worldwide annual turnover for prohibited AI. Even if you’re not in the EU, these regulations could still apply if your AI systems touch EU markets. And the UK isn’t far behind with its own evolving guidelines and best practices.
Key considerations
To ensure you are using AI responsibly it is worth considering some of the following areas:
- Have you agreed what AI means to your organisation, and do you have an AI Policy that makes it clear to staff how AI should be used?
- Are you risk assessing any new AI solutions to ensure all data protection and information security risks have been considered?
- Are you clear how AI solutions used in your business are processing personal data and can you explain this to individuals whose data you process?
- Have you asked suppliers providing the AI solution how they manage key risks in this area?
- Have you ensured that any AI solution deployed is accurate, reliable, safe, ethical, lawful, free from bias and includes some form of human oversight?
Curious about how AI could impact your business? Contact us today for a consultation or follow us here for the latest in cyber security trends and solutions.
Reach out on 01748 905 002 or email info@evolvenorth.com