51 seconds to breach: How CISOs are countering AI-driven, lightning-fast deepfake, vishing and social engineering attacks
1 min read
Summary
AI is the hottest tool for cyber attackers looking to gain illicit access to organisations, with instances of such attempts skyrocketing in recent times, according to a report by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
Using AI, hackers are able to create phishing and deepfake scams and launch social engineering attacks in a fraction of the time that was possible using earlier methods.
One technique that is gaining traction among hackers is vishing, or voice phishing, by which attackers manipulate victims into revealing sensitive information or resetting their credentials over the phone.
The CrowdStrike report reveals that vishing was the initial access method used in 79% of attacks in 2024, a huge increase of 442% compared with the previous year.
To counter such attacks, companies are having to come up with new ways of protecting themselves, with many adopting a strategy of assuming they have already been breached and implementing measures accordingly.
Three core strategies are suggested for shutting down lateral movements by attackers: cutting off attacks at the authentication layer, leveraging AI-driven threat detection to spot attacks in real time and unifying endpoint, cloud and identity security to stop lateral movement.