For business leaders, the challenge is not understanding every new AI tool. It is understanding how AI is changing the threats their organizations face and what practical steps can reduce risk.
Security teams can use AI to identify potential threats, analyze activity, and respond faster. At the same time, attackers can use it to personalize scams, automate attacks, and make fraudulent requests appear more convincing.
Understanding both sides of that equation is becoming an important part of modern cybersecurity.
In This Article
How AI Is Being Used by Cybercriminals
AI is not creating entirely new cyber threats. It is making familiar attacks faster, more convincing, and easier to scale.
Phishing, impersonation, and social engineering have always relied on gaining someone’s trust. AI gives attackers new ways to build trust by creating realistic messages, personalizing content, and generating many variations of the same scam in seconds.
Attackers can also combine communication methods. A suspicious email may be followed by a text message, phone call, or video meeting that appears to confirm the original request.
As these attacks become more sophisticated, businesses need to focus on prevention, monitoring, and response rather than relying on traditional warning signs alone.
AI Phishing Attacks Are Becoming More Convincing
Traditional phishing emails often include warning signs such as poor grammar, generic greetings, or unusual phrasing. Those signs have never been the only way to identify phishing, but they made some attempts easier to recognize.
AI phishing often removes many of the warning signs employees have learned to look for.
Attackers can use AI to create professional messages that sound natural and fit the context of a workplace. Public information from company websites, social media, and professional profiles can also help make messages more specific to the recipient.
We’ve seen phishing attempts where attackers impersonate company leaders so convincingly that, at first glance, everything appears legitimate. The name, profile image, email signature, and tone of the message may all match what employees expect to see.
AI-generated phishing messages may appear to come from:
- An executive requesting an urgent payment
- A manager asking for login credentials
- A vendor sending updated payment information
- A co-worker sharing a file or account link
- A client requesting access to sensitive information
That is why user awareness remains one of the most important layers of cybersecurity protection.
After a company narrowly avoided a $100,000 phishing loss, Twin State Technical Services provided targeted security awareness training. Simulated phishing attempts equipped employees with the knowledge and skills needed to better recognize deceptive messages, identify suspicious activity, and help prevent similar incidents in the future. The results gave company leaders a clearer picture of their team’s progress and where to strengthen their defenses before the next attempt.
Employees should consider the context of a request instead of relying only on how polished the message looks:
- Is the request unexpected?
- Is someone creating unnecessary urgency?
- Does the request involve money, credentials, or sensitive information?
- Is the sender asking you to bypass a normal process?
- Can you verify the request through another trusted channel?
KEY TAKEAWAY
AI is making phishing more convincing, which makes user awareness even more important.
Deepfake Scams and Impersonation Risks
Deepfake scams take impersonation beyond written messages.
Attackers can use AI-generated audio, video, and images to imitate executives, managers, vendors, or other trusted contacts. A cloned voice might sound like a leader requesting an urgent payment. A video might appear to show a recognizable person approving a request during a virtual meeting.
Attackers can combine email, phone calls, video, and branding elements to make a fraudulent request appear legitimate.
The business risk is simple. Employees may share money, data, credentials, or access because the person making the request looks or sounds familiar.
Businesses can no longer assume that a request is authentic simply because:
WHEN AI IMPERSONATION HAPPENS
“It sounded like my boss.”
“It looked real.”
A familiar voice or convincing video is no longer proof that a request is legitimate.
How to Verify a Suspicious Request
Before moving money, sharing data, or granting access:
- Verify through a second channel. Call a known number or use another trusted communication method.
- Use multi-person approval. Require more than one person to approve sensitive or financial requests.
- Confirm unexpected requests. Slow down when someone asks for credentials, confidential information, or an exception to normal procedures.
- Report suspicious activity. Employees should know exactly where and how to report a concern.
- Continue awareness training. Training should reflect current phishing, voice, video, and impersonation risks.
How AI Is Helping Businesses Strengthen Security
| AI Capability | How It Supports Security |
|---|---|
|
Real-Time Threat Detection |
AI can analyze activity and identify unusual behavior that may indicate a threat before it causes significant disruption. |
|
Behavioral Analytics |
Security tools can learn normal user and system activity, then flag unusual behavior for investigation. |
|
Automated Incident Response |
Some solutions can block malicious traffic, isolate affected devices, or restrict access when suspicious activity is detected. |
|
Reducing Alert Fatigue |
AI can help prioritize alerts so security professionals can focus on activity that presents the greatest risk. |
|
Task Automation |
AI can help organize security information, summarize incidents, and reduce repetitive tasks so analysts can spend more time on investigation and response. |
AI in Cybersecurity: Risk vs. Reward
How Attackers Use AI
- Create more convincing phishing messages
- Personalize social engineering attempts
- Clone voices
- Produce deepfake videos and images
- Scale impersonation campaigns
- Generate variations that are harder to identify
How Security Teams Use AI
- Detect unusual activity
- Analyze behavioral patterns
- Prioritize security alerts
- Support continuous monitoring
- Automate repetitive tasks
- Assist with incident response
Why Employee Awareness Still Matters
Having strong systems and policies in place is only part of managing cybersecurity risk. Employees play a critical role in an organization’s overall defense.
AI-generated messages may be polished, personalized, and free of obvious mistakes. A voice may sound familiar. A video may look believable. These changes make context, verification, and human judgment even more important.
Employees need practical training that helps them:
- Question unexpected or unusual requests
- Recognize urgency and pressure tactics
- Follow established approval procedures
- Verify sensitive requests through another channel
- Report suspicious activity quickly
Employees should also feel comfortable asking questions without fear of blame. A quick report gives the security team an opportunity to investigate before a questionable request becomes a larger incident.
AI can help identify threats and prioritize alerts, but it cannot replace human judgment. Training, critical thinking, and a willingness to question unusual requests remain some of the most effective cybersecurity defenses available to any organization.
Practical Steps Businesses Should Take
5 Ways to Reduce AI Security Risks
Train Employees
Enable Multi-Factor Authentication
Establish AI Policies
Monitor Systems
Test Response Plans
Building Clear AI Usage Policies
Businesses also need policies that address how employees use AI in their daily work. Organizations that are still developing their AI strategy should first determine where AI fits within their operations, identify potential risks, and establish clear guidelines for use. Our guide on AI Enablement for Growing Companies can help businesses take a practical approach to adoption before creating formal governance policies.
Employees should know:
- Which AI tools are approved?
- What company or client information cannot be entered into an AI tool?
- Which AI uses require approval?
- Who evaluates new tools?
- What level of human review is required?
- Who is responsible for reviewing and updating the policy?
Businesses should also restrict high-risk tasks, prohibit misleading content, and require human review before AI-assisted work is published or used in an important decision. Nothing should go live simply because an AI tool produced it.
Clear ownership is important. Someone needs to maintain the policy, review new uses, address problems, and update expectations as the technology changes. Employees should also understand when AI use requires disclosure, review, or additional oversight.
How TSTS Helps Businesses Navigate AI Security Risks
AI is changing the cybersecurity landscape, but the fundamentals still matter.
Twin State Technical Services helps organizations identify risks, strengthen protection, and provide monitoring and support where security gaps exist.
That support can include:
- Cybersecurity assessments
- Monitoring, threat detection, and response
- Security awareness and KnowBe4 training
- Incident response preparation and cybersecurity strategy
- AI governance and security planning
Whether your organization is considering new AI tools, strengthening employee awareness, or reviewing its security posture, an outside perspective can help identify gaps and prioritize practical next steps.
Protect Your Business Against Emerging AI Threats
AI is creating new opportunities for businesses, but it is also changing the cybersecurity landscape. At Twin State Technical Services, our AI and cybersecurity experts work together to help you adopt new technology and protect your people, data, and operations.
Wondering how AI could affect your business or whether your safeguards are keeping up? Connect with our experts. We’ll help you understand the risks and identify where to focus first.
