Social engineering in the era of generative AI: Predictions for 2024


Breakthroughs in large language models (LLMs) are driving an arms race between cybersecurity and social engineering scammers. Here’s how it’s set to play out in 2024.


For businesses, generative AI is both a curse and an opportunity. As enterprises race to adopt the technology, they also take on a whole new layer of cyber risk. The constant fear of missing out isn’t helping either. But it’s not just AI models themselves that cyber criminals are targeting. In a time when fakery is the new normal, they’re also using AI to create alarmingly convincing social engineering attacks or generate misinformation at scale.


While the potential of generative AI in assisting creative and analytical processes is without doubt, the risks are less clear. After all, phishing emails created using the technology are more convincing than those full of typos and grammatical errors. Profile images created in image synthesizers are increasingly hard to tell apart from the real thing. Now, we’re reaching a stage when even deepfake videos can easily fool us.


Equipped with these technologies, cyber criminals can create highly convincing personas and extend their reach through social media, email and even live audio or video calls. Admittedly, it’s still early days for generative AI in social engineering, but there’s little doubt that it will come to shape the entire cyber crime landscape in the years ahead. With that in mind, here ar ..

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