What are AI-generated phishing attacks and how could they impact your business?

Last updated on: July 7, 2023

65% of phishing attacks worldwide occurred in the US this year. Businesses and consumers in the US are increasingly being targeted by deceptive phishing attacks that steal sensitive information. In recent years, more scammers have been using artificial intelligence (AI) to make their phishing attacks faster, more precise, and more damaging. 

AI-generated phishing attacks come in various forms and present a variety of challenges to businesses. Many of these phishing attacks steer consumers toward fake websites that allow them to steal financial information and commit fraudulent acts. 

To ensure you can protect your brand it is important to inform yourself as much as possible and stay proactive. In this blog, we’ll be exploring AI-generated phishing attacks and how they could impact your business by highlighting a number of topics, including: 

• What are AI-generated phishing attacks?
• How are AI-generated phishing attacks impacting business?
• How does Red Points use AI technology to shut down business impersonators?

What are AI-generated phishing attacks?

AI-generated phishing attacks are a type of digital scam made using AI or to some extent powered by some AI technology. With AI scammers can become more efficient in the way they produce language, content, and code. When these three elements are combined one can produce a sophisticated phishing scam that can be delivered easily via email, messaging, or a link. 

Why are they more concerning than standard phishing attacks? 

AI-generated phishing attacks pose a larger risk than standard phishing attacks because they enable faster, more targeted, and easier-to-create scams. 

• AI is improving the writing quality of non-native speakers. In standard phishing attacks, there may be many spelling and grammar mistakes that will let the recipient know that they are interacting with a scam. However, scammers can now use AI technology to remove such mistakes and improve their writing quality – making it harder for readers to spot real content from scam content. 

• AI enables faster scams. With AI technology fraudsters can speed up their scam process and allows them to send more scam messages to more people via email and across social media.  

• AI makes it easier to create fake websites. AI tools that can code and activate new sites mean that it is easier for scammers to create fraudulent websites even if they are not proficient at building websites. 

How are AI-generated phishing attacks impacting business?

AI-generated phishing attacks are putting pressure on businesses to adapt and learn. The speed and precision enabled by AI means that scammers can operate more effectively than before. As a result, businesses are having to find new ways to defend themselves. 

The most significant impacts on businesses from AI-generated attacks include:

• Brand degradation and loss of consumer confidence

Customer relationships will suffer if your business is continually targeted by AI-generated phishing attacks. Consumers will stop trusting your business if they are often confronted by phishing attempts when interacting with your brand. They will also lose confidence in your business’s ability to defend itself which will undermine their desire to purchase your products and engage with your brand online. Ultimately, this will result in brand degradation and the diminishing of your business’s reputation within the industry. 

• Decrease in revenue

The knock-on effect of poor customer relationships is a decrease in revenue. Scammers are always looking to steal either information or money. With AI-generated phishing attacks, they can more easily target your revenue streams and disrupt your connection with consumers. 

• Having to deal with “Whack-a-mole” counterfeiting operations 

Powered by AI technology, these kinds of operations can scale up and shut down operations quickly. This ‘Whack-a-mole’ tactic of appearing and disappearing is difficult for businesses to counter on their own. It requires extensive monitoring and the ability to move quickly to take down bad actors before they disappear. Pursuing these kinds of scammers can significantly impact a business’s ability to protect itself. 

• Legal and regulatory consequences

You cannot let AI phishing scams destroy your business. For many, this will mean pursuing legal and regulatory paths to protect yourself and punish scammers. However, this can be an expensive, complex, and time-consuming task for many businesses. While sometimes necessary, legal and regulatory work is not fun and it will take resources away from your brand’s creative endeavors.

How does Red Points use AI technology to shut down business impersonators? 

Red Points’ Brand Impersonation Protection Solution can detect and shut down fake websites that have been created to complete the final stage of these AI-generated phishing attacks. 

Scammers have become proficient in AI impersonation scams, spreading fake news, and using misinformation to take advantage of brands. Thankfully, we have a team with years of expertise in these areas who have designed a solution to counter these scammers and take down phishing scams. We accomplish this with three simple steps: 

• Monitor and detect infringement

Our automated bot-powered searching process allows us to detect infringements and constantly monitor the online world. We can discover fake sites that may be connected to AI-generated phishing attacks. Through automation, we can conduct this monitoring and detection far more efficiently and effectively than you can via any manual system. 

• Review and validate

As we log detections, you will be able to review potential infringements and validate whether or not they are scams you want to remove. This validation process can also be automated based on rules you set up, ensuring that the system works quickly and continues to function to your liking while you are occupied with other tasks. 

• Enforce and takedown

After validation, our solution then moves on to the enforcement process. Here we can start taking down fake websites connected to AI-generated phishing attacks so that your customers are no longer at risk. 

Over 1,200 companies including FILA, Hugo Boss, Paysend, and Bunq trust us to protect their brands and customers. This is because we have a stellar record of successful takedowns and are committed to safeguarding businesses from online scammers with our protection solutions. 

What’s next

Generative AI has revived the efforts of many failing scammers. As a tool, AI has aided in the creation of a variety of phishing scams that seek to take advantage of businesses and scammers. In fact, with AI tools being so accessible and inexpensive, phishing attacks have become more widespread and potent. This presents a number of difficulties for businesses of all sizes. 

One of the best practices you can take is to set an incident response plan that outlines the steps to be taken in case of a phishing attack. This plan should include procedures for communication, customer support, and collaboration with relevant authorities.

Leveraging AI as a defense against AI can be highly beneficial. By adopting AI-powered solutions like Red Points’ Business Impersonation Removal Service, you can proactively identify and remove unlimited fake accounts, apps, sites, and domains used by scammers in the final stages of their AI-generated phishing attacks.

By implementing these best practices and utilizing advanced AI-driven solutions, businesses can fortify their defenses, effectively combat AI-generated phishing scams, and safeguard their brand reputation and customers’ trust.