Phishing attacks also have a “Gotcha!” effect because they are customized enough to your online patterns and Google searches to avoid looking suspicious.
“Phishing attacks deliberately play with human psychology and personal bias,” said Heiding. “They work because they hijack shortcuts in your brain. But if you pause and reflect on the contents of an email, your rational brain will take over and stop you from clicking.”
LEARN MORE: Find out everything you need to know about phishing attack prevention.
The Rise of Automated Phishing Emails
Unfortunately, large language models are getting better at hacking humans, and with small manual adjustments, they have an even higher success rate.
Generative AI also makes it easier and faster to create a phishing email. “You don’t need to be a native English speaker or know proper grammar because ChatGPT writes it for you,” Heiding said.
Add machine learning, and you can also automate phishing emails to run a multipart email scheme against a set of individuals. Heiding described how these follow an A-B-A-C format, much like the multiple follow ups in a marketing campaign to generate conversions.
Once phishing attacks become automated, the risks grow considerably. But data scientists say this actually presents an opportunity. “If we learn how these models work, we are one step closer to using them for our ends, just as the hackers are using them now for theirs,” Heiding said.
DISCOVER: Find out how cyber criminals use AI in their attacks and how you can use it as a defense.