Report: Higher phishing success, profitability seen with AI emails

Phishing emails generated with artificial intelligence are 4.5 times more likely to fool recipients, achieving 54% click-through rates compared to 12% for conventional phishing attempts, and AI could make phishing scams up to 50 times more profitable, according to The Register.

AI-enabled cyberattacks, including large language model exploitation, voice cloning, and deepfake videos, with nation-state actors increasingly adopting these tools, findings from Microsoft's Digital Defense Report 2025 revealed.

"This massive return on investment will incentivize cyber threat actors who aren't yet using AI to add it to their toolbox in the future," wrote the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Team.

AI also contributed to the rise of ClickFix, which became the most common initial access vector at 47% of attacks, overtaking phishing at 35%. Meanwhile, financially motivated operations accounted for 52% of all known attacks, compared with 4% tied to espionage.

Microsoft emphasized that attackers are logging in, not breaking in, using AI-enhanced social engineering and multi-stage attack chains that combine technical exploits with manipulation across legitimate platforms.