Phishing Activities Spike Dramatically with Advancements in AI Technology

2026-02-05

Accelerating Phishing Attacks

The frequency of phishing attacks has escalated, with spam filters identifying one such email every 19 seconds in the previous year, compared to 42 seconds the year before.

Role of Artificial Intelligence

A significant factor driving this increase is artificial intelligence (AI), which has become a pivotal element in fraudulent activities. AI accelerates the deployment of phishing campaigns and enables cybercriminals to craft more engaging messages.

Personalized Messages

AI personalizes logos, phrases, signatures, and links for specific targets, and can produce messages in multiple languages with grammatical accuracy. According to a Cofense study, over three-quarters of malicious URLs found in phishing emails were unique.

Impersonation Scams

Phishing attempts have long mimicked major brands and entities, but advancements in technology have made impersonation scams exceptionally effective. Criminals can now scrape data from the web to include personal details in their messages.

Social media platforms like LinkedIn have emerged as new phishing channels. Because many professionals use company devices for LinkedIn, and organizations often lack robust security measures comparable to email controls, criminals can more easily target victims through these avenues.

Primary Vector of Attacks

Phishing remains the primary attack vector for cybercriminals. A Cofense report highlighted a 204% year-over-year increase in phishing emails that delivered malware last year.

Malware Consequences

Malware such as infostealers or remote access trojans (RATs) can have severe repercussions. RATs enable bad actors to gain control over a user’s system, while infostealers collect substantial behavioral data beyond login credentials.

AI in Malware Management

Current AI use cases in malware management and data extraction are just the beginning. The credit bureau Experian identified AI agents as the top fraud threat for this year, warning that these entities could soon autonomously manage many aspects of fraud operations.