Artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes and text messages impersonating senior U.S. officials were noted by the FBI to have been leveraged as part of a vishing and smishing attack campaign that has been underway since last month, according to CyberScoop.
Attackers have primarily distributed the bogus text and audio messages to current and former senior federal or state officials, as well as their contacts, in a bid to compromise their accounts, said the FBI alert. "If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior U.S. official, do not assume it is authentic," the FBI warned. Such an alert comes amid the increasing prevalence of AI exploitation in phishing schemes, with the technology noted by Google Threat Intelligence Group Chief Analyst John Hultquist to have allowed not only a lower barrier to entry but also scalability in attacks. The threat has since prompted the Federal Trade Commission to regard AI-based spoofing as one of its key priorities.
Attackers have primarily distributed the bogus text and audio messages to current and former senior federal or state officials, as well as their contacts, in a bid to compromise their accounts, said the FBI alert. "If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior U.S. official, do not assume it is authentic," the FBI warned. Such an alert comes amid the increasing prevalence of AI exploitation in phishing schemes, with the technology noted by Google Threat Intelligence Group Chief Analyst John Hultquist to have allowed not only a lower barrier to entry but also scalability in attacks. The threat has since prompted the Federal Trade Commission to regard AI-based spoofing as one of its key priorities.
