DeepSec 2022 Talk: Towards the Automation of Highly Targeted Phishing Attacks with Adversarial Artificial Intelligence – Francesco Morano and Enrico Frumento
The work we will present aims to develop a Proof of Concept (PoC) of an attack scenario that uses Artificial Intelligence (i.e., AI) to create a semi-automatic phishing attack. The AI-based PoC used different network types to automatically compose highly targeted phishing emails with information derived from the initial OSINT analysis of the potential victims. The study approaches the problem from a cybercriminal point of view to understand the feasibility of such an attack tactic and prepare for possible defences. Phishing is a popular way to perform social engineering attacks. According to the Verizon 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report, 82% of data breaches involve human elements and belong to several categories, including phishing, the most common. Using AI tools, this study implements a complete attack chain: (i) initial collection of victims’ data through OSINT,