Remember the Jetsons? The animated sitcom humorously depicted a futuristic century with elaborate robots and “cutting-edge” inventions. We’re not getting around in flying cars (yet). However, technology has seen significant advancements in areas like 5G networks, cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). These advancements play a key role in our day-to-day lives. Most technology is designed to make us more efficient and our lives easier. As with everything, technology can be used as a tool or as a weapon.
Cybercrime illustrates how advancing technology can be weaponized, making attack vectors more sophisticated and realistic for attackers. Let’s consider what happens when AI meets vishing.
Vishing
Most people have heard of “phishing.” Phishing involves email that’s designed to compel the user into clicking on malicious links. Vishing is voice phishing, in which scammers trick people into doing things they believe are in their best interests. Vishing is often more effective than phishing, as scammers use social engineering to build rapport and manipulate victims into action. Some of these techniques include fear, urgency and authority just to name a few. These tactics are often used while impersonating either a vendor or someone within their organization, making their request seem like a normal day-to-day transaction.
Next Level
Imagine an impostor is calling you impersonating your manager with an urgent request, perhaps a wire transfer. You may think “I would never fall for that”. However, impostors can now take their vishing to the next level by using AI. According to Cloud.Google.com “AI-powered voice cloning can now mimic human speech with uncanny precision, creating for more realistic phishing schemes.” Through voice cloning or deepfakes, which use AI to replicate voices, scammers can impersonate celebrities, elected officials, or even your own friends and family. This evolving threat leverages advanced AI to clone voices of individuals, creating convincing impersonations that can fool even the most vigilant employees.
Facing the Challenge
Corporate security teams now face the challenge of defending against attacks that exploit innate human trust in familiar voices. This can lead to potentially compromising sensitive information, financial assets, and even personal safety. How can corporations face the challenge of these advanced attacks? As technology advances and becomes more accessible, businesses must adjust their security strategies to defend against these emerging attacks. The following are a few recommendations to help organizations mitigate these threats:
- Keep staff members informed and aware: Educate and remind employees about the prevalence of vishing attacks. Identify sensitive information withing your organization such as employee ID’s, network information etc. Then inform employees which key pieces of information to not share with an unverified caller.
- Update security measures: Update security policies and processes around vishing attacks. Implement the use of multi-factor authentication, zero-trust network access and other advanced security controls to protect organizations from social engineering and unauthorized access.
- Positive Reinforcement: Have a clear and concise procedure for reporting suspicious calls and empower employees to report them by implementing positive reinforcement as part of the training and/or reporting process.
- Provide employees with realistic vishing simulation exercises and training to protect against vishing attempts. Going through such training will enable employees to recognize a vishing call, learn how to remain calm in this scenario and avoid revealing sensitive information.
Test. Educate. Protect.
The rise of vishing attacks, along with advancements in AI technology pose a significant threat to security in the personal and business sector. Awareness is the first step toward protecting ourselves against these types of attacks. Combating vishing attacks will depend not only on technological solutions but also on widespread awareness and education to help people recognize and respond to these attacks.
At Social-Engineer LLC, we combine science and expertise with our Managed Vishing Service to create realistic vishing attack simulations. This service goes beyond the conventional, merging the human element with cutting-edge tactics to offer a defense mechanism that’s as adaptive and unpredictable as the threats it aims to counter. Additionally, we offer an innovative Artificial Intelligence and Deep Fake Social Engineering Audit. This cutting-edge service arms your staff with the critical skills they need to navigate this emerging threat landscape. Using advanced deep fake and digital skin technologies, we simulate hyper-realistic scenarios to test and enhance your team’s vigilance against these sophisticated attacks.
Contact us today for a consultation and learn how we can help strengthen your organization’s security against evolving social engineering attacks.
Written by:
Rosa Rowles
Human Risk Analyst at Social-Engineer, LLC