Most common AI-powered cyberattacks

Abstract

AI-powered cyberattacks leverage AI or machine learning algorithms and techniques to automate, accelerate, or enhance various phases of a cyberattack, from identifying vulnerabilities to exfiltrating data. The article sets out five characteristics of such attacks—automation, efficient data gathering, customization, reinforcement learning, and the targeted identification of employees—and surveys the main attack types, including AI-driven social engineering, phishing, deepfakes, adversarial AI and machine learning attacks, malicious GPTs, and ransomware. It closes with defensive recommendations: continuous security assessments, incident response planning, employee training, and the adoption of AI-powered security tooling.