AI-Generated Phishing Attacks Are Becoming Increasingly Effective At Targeting Executives

Corporate executives are increasingly becoming the targets of sophisticated phishing scams, with AI technology being used to craft hyper-personalized fraudulent emails.

As AI rapidly evolves, cybercriminals are harnessing this fast-developing technology to create attacks that are not only more convincing but also harder to detect.

Leading companies, including British insurer Beazley and e-commerce giant eBay, have issued warnings about a surge in phishing scams that seem to have personal details about executives, as noted today by the Financial Times (FT).

FT notes that these scams are likely fueled by AI’s ability to analyze online profiles and scrape vast amounts of data, which hackers use to build targeted attacks. Additionally, recent research revealed that AI-Generated malwares evade programmer’s detection in 88% of cases.

“This is getting worse and it’s getting very personal, and this is why we suspect AI is behind a lot of it,” said Kirsty Kelly, Beazley’s Chief Information Security Officer, as reported by FT. “We’re starting to see very targeted attacks that have scraped an immense amount of information about a person.”

FT notes that AI’s capacity to process and replicate specific tones and styles is a key factor driving these developments.  It can quickly analyze a company’s communication patterns, as well as an individual’s social media activity, to tailor a phishing email that is not only plausible but also relevant to the recipient’s interests or recent activities.

“The availability of generative AI tools lowers the entry threshold for advanced cybercrime,” explained to FT Nadezda Demidova, a cybercrime security researcher at eBay. “We’ve witnessed a growth in the volume of all kinds of cyberattacks, particularly in polished and closely targeted phishing scams.”

The rise in AI-driven attacks is a growing concern, with AI enabling hackers to create “perfect” phishing emails that can bypass traditional cybersecurity measures.

Kip Meintzer, an executive at Check Point Software Technologies, emphasized to FT that AI gives hackers an unprecedented ability to write emails that seem indistinguishable from legitimate correspondence.

The consequences of these scams can be severe. According to the U.S. Cyber Defense Agency, over 90% of successful cyberattacks begin with a phishing email. As attacks become more sophisticated, the costs associated with data breaches are escalating. IBM reported that the global average cost of a data breach has risen nearly 10% to $4.9 million in 2024.

AI is also proving particularly effective in business email compromise scams, a type of phishing that involves tricking recipients into transferring funds or divulging confidential information, says FT. Phishing scams powered by AI are not only more difficult to spot but also more likely to bypass basic email filters and cybersecurity training.

FT explains that traditional filters, which are designed to block bulk, repetitive phishing attempts, may struggle to detect scams that are continuously reworded by AI, further escalating the risks for businesses and individuals alike.