Cyber Criminals use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in CEO Fraud

A CEO of a UK based energy firm has been duped into transferring £201,000 to cyber criminals, CEO Fraud.

Stockport based Amshire have been advising on the threat of social engineered attacks, more commonly called CEO Fraud, since 2016.

Managing director Dave Taylor explains how, in this particular case, someone who would consider himself Cyber-Savvy could have been taken in by cyber criminals and what you could do to help protect your business.

The CEO believed that he was speaking with his German boss on the phone.  The impersonator requested a bank transfer to one of their Hungarian suppliers.  The payment was raised, and the money was gone within an hour of the call.

We’ve now got the first confirmed report of CEO fraud using AI to impersonate someone!  This is tipped to be the next big Cyber Security threat to face businesses and a tactic that is likely to become more common place in the workplace.

How can businesses protect themselves as the threat of AI in CEO fraud increases?

Ideally, you should already have in place steps to protect your business from CEO fraud and verify requests.  However, now that AI is being used to impersonate people, it is time to review your processes and verification methods to combat this evolution of CEO fraud.

An example of additional steps might include making an outgoing call to verify the identity and request.  Or you might want to start using a codeword?  It might seem a little like James Bond, but at the end of the day you need to do what you can to protect you and your business from Cyber Criminals.

In addition to these steps your employees are key to protecting your business.  It’s almost impossible to prevent social engineered attacks using technology alone.  The speed at which the cyber threat environment is changing is staggering.  But by giving User the tools and training in Cyber awareness you can help them spot potential threats.  This will help them to question and independently verify any request which will result in them protecting the business.

Businesses of all sizes are being targeted; according to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), small and medium sized businesses may have more to lose than larger organisations where attacks can be more of a financial burden and threaten their survival.

Cyber Security doesn’t have to be overwhelming, expensive or complicated if you make sure that you understand the risks and seek the advice of experts who can help to protect you, your team and your business.