AI-generated cyber threats have C-suite leaders on edge
Good morning. The risk of cyberattacks has long been top of mind for CFOs, but in the coming months, the threat may pose even greater cause for concern as deepfakes and other new AI-driven tricks become more sophisticated.
In July, more than 100 top cybersecurity leaders gathered in Silicon Valley to talk about how to deal with the latest AI-driven threats. Fortune’s Sharon Goldman writes about this meeting in a new piece, “SoftBank, Mastercard, and Anthropic cyber chiefs sound alarms on AI phishing and deepfakes—but those aren’t the only things keeping them up at night.”
The group, including Fortune 500 chief information security officers, were surveyed by Team8, the venture capital firm behind the event. Three-quarters said that fighting AI phishing campaigns—email, text, or messaging scams—is difficult. And more than half said AI-generated video or audio impersonations, or deepfakes, were becoming an increasingly common threat.
Goldman spoke exclusively to several retreat attendees and found out that AI phishing attacks and deepfakes may be just the tip of the iceberg.
“Gary Hayslip, chief security officer at investment holding company SoftBank, said one of his biggest concerns is how to protect private company data from supply chain attacks in the age of AI,” she writes. “That is, dealing with risks from third-party vendors that have added generative AI features to their tools but have not implemented the necessary governance around the use of Soft bank’s data.” You can read Goldman’s complete report here.
Meanwhile, a recent report by Medius, a finance software provider, found that 53% of finance professionals in the U.S. and U.K. experienced attempted deepfake scamming attacks, with 43% admitting they have fallen victim to an attack. In addition, 85% said deepfake technology poses an existential crisis to the business’ financial security. The findings are based on a survey of 1,533 senior finance executives.
Generative AI is a tool that can enhance workplace productivity. However, in the wrong hands, it may offer “endless potential” to increase the nature and scope of fraud against financial institutions, according to research by Deloitte’s Center for Financial Services. For example, generative AI-enabled deepfakes incorporate a “self-learning” system that constantly checks and updates its ability to fool computer-based detection systems.
Deloitte predicts that the technology could enable fraud losses to reach $40 billion in the U.S. by 2027, from $12.3 billion in 2023, a compound annual growth rate of 32%.
“There won’t be one silver-bullet solution, so anti-fraud teams should continually accelerate their self-learning to keep pace with fraudsters,” according to Deloitte.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
The following sections of CFO Daily were curated by Greg McKenna
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