With the explosion in user-friendly artificial intelligence
software such as ChatGPT and countless other innovative
applications, we’ve entered an age of accessibility so expansive
it has been compared to the advent of the internet. But like the
internet and its anarchic inception, the collective imagination
is struggling to keep up with how these AI tools will impact
daily life, and how to evade those who utilize them for malicious
purposes.
Using AI, criminals can be craftier, more convincing, and nearly
impossible to detect — even for the otherwise tech-savvy. Phone
scams aren’t just for the elderly anymore. With voice cloning software, just a
three-second recording is needed to seamlessly mimic a real
person’s voice, and scammers are already exploiting it.
In March, the Federal Trade Commission
warned of AI being used in what they call “family emergency
schemes,” where a family member may call in trouble and ask for
money. Even more unsettling are the “virtual kidnapping schemes,”
which are nothing new, according
to the FBI, but are infinitely more effective and
traumatizing with the addition of voice cloning.
One Arizona mother
recently experienced this novel variety of horror when her
15-year-old daughter’s voice sobbed over a phone call from an
unknown number, begging her for help. “The voice sounded just
like Brie’s (her daughter), the inflection, everything,” she told
CNN. Then a man’s voice demanded ransom. Fortunately, the scam
was swiftly exposed when the real daughter called, but the terror
felt by the mother was also real.
If something similar happens to you, stay calm. Don’t
trust the voice.
“Call the person who supposedly contacted you and verify the
story. Use a phone number you know is theirs. If you can’t reach
your loved one, try to get in touch with them through another
family member or their friends,” the FTC advises. “If you spot a
scam, report it to the FTC.”
So what are some other ways criminals are using AI, and how can
we protect ourselves?
George Usi, CEO of Sacramento-based cybersecurity compliance
company Omnistruct, is well versed
in the security risks posed by AI and the burgeoning field of
“artificial ethics.” He serves on the board for SecureTheVillage,
a nonprofit that supports communities in achieving cybersecurity
and data privacy. He is also a chairman of the CaliforniaIPv6
Task Force, which is a collaborative effort to upgrade the
internet to the next generation of numbering systems.
At Omnistruct “one of the things that is on the tip of our spear
right now is some of the concerns about the security of any kind
of AI-based model and how the risks increase dramatically when …
learning models aren’t properly developed to be accountable,” Usi
says. Hackers using AI-based learning models to breach networks
and steal data is not new, but the growing accessibility of
AI-driven applications will change the game when it comes to
online scammers targeting individuals.
“Hackers that are out there are now going to sound a lot less
like the Nigerian prince that we so frequently hear about in
the cliche of cybersecurity hacks. They’re going to be more
sophisticated.”George Usi, CEO, Omnistruct
“Hackers that are out there are now going to sound a lot less
like the Nigerian prince that we so frequently hear about in the
cliche of cybersecurity hacks. They’re going to be more
sophisticated,” Usi says. “Because we live in an
internet-delivered world, often what we see in terms of content
is real to us. … That’s a very challenging part of the fear, that
we will often see something online and take it for face value.”
As with many online scams, Usi thinks the senior community will
be most impacted. “It was a hard pill to swallow for me when my
own mother and her sister had folks trying to attack them, and it
looked fairly authentic,” he says. “They weren’t necessarily AI,
but if they were, how much more could they have taken?”
Usi offers his advice for other vulnerable internet users, which
is all of us.
Have a tech-savvy person help you safely navigate the
internet.
“There’s a lot of young talent out there,” Usi says. “Even your
teenager might know how to better secure you than you do. These
younger generations have never known a world without an internet
connection. I’m not one of those.”
There are also organizations like SecureTheVillage that provide
resources in achieving communitywide cybersecurity. In the
Sacramento area, there’s CyberProud, a workforce
development initiative that facilitates cyber talent
training.
Monitor your credit by setting up fraud alerts.
Experian, Equifax and TransUnion all
offer fraud alert services to help protect your credit from
identity thieves and scammers.
“Some might argue that you want to freeze your credit if you know
you’re not making any investments in the near future, to make
sure that someone can’t, you know, abscond with your wealth,” Usi
says. “But I don’t know that I would put that on my list as one
of the top things to do. Credit monitoring is probably a much
better option for most.”
Keep an eye on your kids.
Though helpful to grandparents, young people’s tech-savviness
could potentially land them in trouble, Usi says. Detection
software
is already being used to sniff out students using chatbots to
write academic papers, which can reap serious consequences.
But even more concerning is the potential misuse of AI in
targeting children online — a place already teeming with dating
scams and
sexual predators.
“It’s really, really difficult to, you know, hover over them in
their online worlds, especially the tweens and the teenagers,”
Usi says. “But you know it’s in their best interest to keep them
safe, because artificial intelligence can definitely fool
somebody, including a teenager.”
Pressure legislators to put artificial ethics on the
agenda.
“I think in the end, what we’ll see is more regulatory and
statutory requirements,” Usi says. “There’s so many irons in the
fire, so to speak, that it’s going to be very difficult to
regulate it quickly. So there’s going to be a period of chaos,
and people are probably concerned as they know that, generally
speaking, regulations are passed often because of what happened
already. And if we have an incident that happens that’s so
serious, it might be too late to regulate it because it may be a
catastrophic consequence.”
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