GenAI Is Powering the Latest Surge in Modern Email Threats


Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT have extensive business value. They can write content, clean up context, mimic writing styles and tone, and more.

But what if bad actors abuse these capabilities to create highly convincing, targeted and automated phishing messages at scale? No need to wonder as it’s already happening. Not long after the launch of ChatGPT, business email compromise (BEC) attacks, which are language-based, increased across the globe.

Read more…
Source: Proofpoint


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • New trends in phishing and scams: How AI and social media are changing the game

    August 13, 2025

    Phishing and scams are dynamic types of online fraud that primarily target individuals, with cybercriminals constantly adapting their tactics to deceive people. Scammers invent new methods and improve old ones, adjusting them to fit current news, trends, and major world events: anything to lure in their next victim. Since our last publication on phishing tactics, there ...

  • How NATO Is Building Resilience Against Disruptive Cyber Technologies

    August 12, 2025

    The mission of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is to safeguard the freedom and security of its member countries through political and military means. “We look out for our members by combining smart diplomacy with strong defense, and that includes risk management and cyber resilience,” said Konrad Wrona, Security Expert, NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency. ...

  • Carnegie Mellon researchers show how LLMs can be taught to autonomously plan and execute real-world cyberattacks

    July 24, 2025

    In a groundbreaking development, a team of Carnegie Mellon University researchers has demonstrated that large language models (LLMs) are capable of autonomously planning and executing complex network attacks, shedding light on emerging capabilities of foundation models and their implications for cybersecurity research. The project, led by Ph.D. candidate Brian SingerOpens in new window, a Ph.D. candidate ...

  • Proactive Email Security: The Power of AI

    July 24, 2025

    Cybercriminals are using AI to launch faster, more targeted attacks—impersonating executives, bypassing filters with QR phishing or AI-driven deception techniques, and exploiting human error to cause financial and reputational damage. Traditional defenses can’t keep up. This report explores how AI-powered email security can proactively defend against today’s most pressing threats—like business email compromise (BEC), QR phishing ...

  • Preventing Zero-Click AI Threats: Insights from EchoLeak

    July 15, 2025

    EchoLeak (CVE-2025-32711) is a newly identified vulnerability in Microsoft 365 Copilot, made more nefarious by its zero-click nature, meaning it requires no user interaction to succeed. It demonstrates how helpful systems can open the door to entirely new forms of attack— no malware, no phishing required—just the unquestioning obedience of an AI agent. This new threat ...

  • Impostor uses AI to impersonate Rubio and contact foreign and US officials

    July 8, 2025

    The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other officials using technology driven by artificial intelligence, according to two senior officials and a cable sent last week to all embassies and consulates. The warning came after the department discovered that an impostor posing as Rubio had ...