The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as Chat-GPT and the increasing popularity of cloud services have made spam and phishing emails infinitely more dangerous, new research claims.
A new report from VIPRE Security Group shows that as consumers started using the cloud, so did hackers. Link-based malware deliveries made up 58% of all malicious emails this quarter, while attachments made up the remaining 42%.
Cloud storage services have also emerged strongly as a delivery method for malspam, accounting for 67% of all malspam delivery methods in the quarter, VIPRE said. Legitimate but compromised websites made up the remaining 33%.
Cloud and chatbots
At the same time, the use of generative AI tools made spam and phishing emails harder to spot. Typically, it was poor grammar, spelling mistakes, or strange formatting that gave this away and allowed victims to spot a phishing email before downloading an attachment or clicking a link.
Using AI tools like Chat-GPT, hackers can now create well-formatted, highly literate messages that are indistinguishable from benign ones. This forces victims to take additional countermeasures to combat the threat.
Overall, VIPRE’s tools detected 233.9 million malicious emails in the third quarter of the year alone. 110 million emails were attributed to malicious content, while 118 million to malicious attachments. Finally, 150,000 emails showed “previously unknown behavior,” indicating that hackers are constantly trying new things and evolving their tactics for maximum performance.
Phishing and spam remain one of the most popular attack vectors in any hacker’s arsenal. They are cheap to produce and deploy, and with a bit of luck can reach large numbers of potential victims. Companies are advised to educate their employees about the dangers of phishing and ensure they carefully investigate every incoming email, regardless of who the sender is.