Cybersecurity (AI-Enabled Threats)

The same AI capabilities that strengthen defences also empower attackers, and this dynamic is one of the most consequential aspects of AI's impact on security. AI enables more convincing phishing emails, personalised at scale using information scraped from social media and corporate websites. Voice cloning and deepfake video make social engineering attacks more effective. AI can automate the discovery of software vulnerabilities, generate polymorphic malware that evades detection, and help less skilled attackers punch above their weight by lowering the technical barrier to conducting sophisticated attacks. Automated attacks can adapt in real time, probing defences and adjusting tactics faster than human defenders can respond. The concern is not just about existing attack types becoming more effective - it is about entirely new categories of attack becoming possible. Disinformation campaigns powered by AI can operate at scale, creating convincing fake content across text, image, audio, and video simultaneously. For organisations, this means that your security posture needs to account for AI-enhanced threats even if you are not yet using AI defensively. The arms race between AI-powered attack and defence is already well underway.