Most people imagined the AI and robot revolution to be different than what we have today. AI-powered robots do house chores like cleaning, washing clothes, dusting, and cooking while you have more time for entertainment, relaxing, or quality time with your family.
Well, what we have is ChatGPT. And it can write like a professional, code like a developer, and create images like a designer. Not to mention that when hackers laid their hands on it, they perfected their phishing attacks and used “gaslighting techniques” to trick the AI into writing malicious code.
The important thing we need to remember is that we’re still in the early days of AI. Thousands of potential use cases will emerge, and it all depends on how we control it. By itself, AI is a neutral tool. It can be good or bad, depending on the person using it.
But half the world is concerned about AI and how it will influence your daily lives. Will it take over your jobs? Will it resemble Skynet, or are we living in a Matrix movie? Will it help hackers breach your devices more easily? For now, let’s stick to the easy answers—how you can protect devices from hackers in the age of AI.
Table of Contents
Deepfakes
The internet has become a place where you cannot trust your eyes and ears. Deepfake videos are scary because you often can’t tell the difference between the real deal and a fake. If you’re a person who watches TikTok, Reels, or YouTube shorts, you’ve definitely seen some of these videos. If not, just search for a Simon Cowell, Tom Cruise, or Joe Rogan deepfake.
Bad actors are using deepfake celebrity endorsements to sell products or services. But how does this go back to you? Well, here’s an example. A finance worker of a massive company got tricked into sending 25 million dollars to a deepfake of his CFO impersonator. People can use deepfakes to access information from your company, and when you give it to them, they can steal your data.
Voice cloning
Imagine getting a phone call from your child that they’ve been in a car accident and that they need a few thousand dollars to bribe the police officer so they don’t go to jail. You hear the tremble in their voice, even crying, and as a parent, you’ll be tempted to muster up the cash.
Imagine a similar scenario when you’re at work and get a phone call from your boss, infuriated that he forgot his password. You’re the one who has it, and he needs it to log in to his device. You’ll be tempted to reset the password. Now, here’s the crazy part. Hackers can impersonate voices with only a few seconds of a sample. You need to have a secret phrase with your friends and family to ensure this doesn’t happen.
AI supercomputers
Most of us don’t have access to supercomputers. However, giant companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, and NVIDIA have massive laboratories filled with them. Now imagine a hacker who can breach into that lab and gain control over that much processing power. If anyone decides to use a supercomputer farm for evil purposes, the repercussions can be catastrophic:
– Mass scale brute force attacks.
– High-speed vulnerability breaching.
– Massive threats to cybersecurity systems.
– Impersonation, document forgery, and identity theft.
– Reverse engineering on passwords.
– Many, many more horrific scenarios.
With all this power, a year’s worth of hacking can be done in mere minutes. And you don’t want the power of trillion-dollar supercomputers directed at your device, mainly because you won’t stand a chance.
Fighting fire with fire
We covered the ways in which AI can be used to disrupt the online world like a villain. But what if a superhero emerges and uses fire to fight fire? AI can also be the savior we’re looking for because it can catch attackers who impersonate others. Current security technology programs, like Microsoft Defender, Sentinel, and Copilot, have AI and machine learning inside them to detect threats better. As end users, people need to know what is cybersecurity and implement best practices in their daily lives. Soon, there might be AI Agents developed specifically with the task of keeping your browsing and device usage secure.
A few best practices
Apart from using AI cybersecurity tools, here are a few best practices to implement:
– Spread awareness about deepfakes. Everyone needs to know about deepfakes and notice the details that give them away, like fingers, facial hair, lip movement, and glare.
– Create security guidelines. Don’t let one phone call influence a massive decision or change. This is true in business and your personal life.
– Create risk assessments. Make a high-level overview of all the processes and things you do at work and in your home that make you vulnerable. See if there’s potential for AI to disrupt them.
