WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have sharply increased their use of artificial intelligence to deceive people online and mount cyberattacks against the United States, according to new research from Microsoft.<\/p>\n
This July, the company identified more than 200 instances of foreign adversaries using AI to create fake content online, more than double the number from July 2024 and more than ten times the number seen in 2023.<\/p>\n
The findings, published Thursday in Microsoft\u2019s annual digital threats report<\/a>, show how foreign adversaries are adopting new and innovative tactics<\/a> in their efforts to weaponize the internet as a tool for espionage<\/a> and deception<\/a>.<\/p>\n AI\u2019s potential said to be exploited by US foes<\/p>\n America\u2019s adversaries, as well as criminal gangs and hacking companies<\/a>, have exploited AI\u2019s potential, using it to automate and improve cyberattacks, to spread inflammatory disinformation<\/a> and to penetrate sensitive systems. AI can translate poorly worded phishing emails into fluent English, for example, as well as generate digital clones of senior government officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n Government cyber operations often aim to obtain classified information, undermine supply chains, disrupt critical public services<\/a> or spread disinformation. Cyber criminals on the other hand work for profit by stealing corporate secrets or using ransomware to extort payments from their victims. These gangs are responsible for the wide majority of cyberattacks in the world and in some cases have built partnerships<\/a> with countries like Russia. <\/p>\n Increasingly, these attackers are using AI to target governments, businesses and critical systems like hospitals and transportation networks, according to Amy Hogan-Burney, Microsoft\u2019s vice president for customer security and trust, who oversaw the report. Many U.S. companies and organizations, meanwhile, are getting by with outdated cyber defenses, even as Americans expand their networks with new digital connections. <\/p>\n Companies, governments, organizations and individuals must take the threat seriously if they are to protect themselves amid escalating digital threats, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see this as a pivotal moment where innovation is going so fast,\u201d Hogan-Burney said. \u201cThis is the year when you absolutely must invest in your cybersecurity basics,\u201d <\/p>\n US is a popular target<\/p>\n The U.S. is the top target for cyberattacks, with criminals and foreign adversaries targeting companies, governments and organizations in the U.S. more than any other country. Israel and Ukraine<\/a> were the second and third most popular targets, showing how military conflicts involving those two nations have spilled over into the digital realm.<\/p>\n Russia, China<\/a> and Iran have denied that they use cyber operations for espionage, disruption and disinformation<\/a>. China, for instance, says the U.S. is trying to \u201c smear<\/a> \u201d Beijing while conducting its own cyberattacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a statement emailed to The Associated Press on Thursday, Iran\u2019s mission to the United Nations said Iran rejects allegations that it is responsible for cyberattacks on the U.S. while reserving the right to defend itself.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Islamic Republic of Iran does not initiate any form of offensive cyber operation against any state,\u201d the mission wrote in the statement. \u201cHowever, as a victim of cyber operations, it will respond to any such threat in a manner proportionate to its nature and scale.\u201d<\/p>\n North Korea<\/a> has pioneered a scheme in which it uses AI personas<\/a> to create American identities allowing them to apply for remote tech jobs. North Korea\u2019s authoritarian government pockets the salaries, while the hackers use their access to steal secrets or install malware. <\/p>\n It\u2019s the kind of digital threat that will face more American organizations in the years to come as sophisticated AI programs make it easier for bad actors to deceive, according to Nicole Jiang, CEO of Fable, a San Francisco-based security company that uses AI to sniff out fake employees. AI is not only a tool for hackers, but also a critical defense against digital attackers<\/a>, Jiang said.<\/p>\n \u201cCyber is a cat-and-mouse game,\u201d she said. \u201cAccess, data, information, money: That\u2019s what they\u2019re after.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have sharply increased their use of artificial intelligence to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":309027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[691,156241,738,13214,64,74,4219,13337,57,13336,346,83,156242,24240,34163,80,257,158,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-309026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-amy-hogan-burney","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence","11":"tag-asia-pacific","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-crime","15":"tag-cybercrime","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-hacking","18":"tag-information-security","19":"tag-iran","20":"tag-nicole-jiang","21":"tag-north-korea","22":"tag-organized-crime","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-russia","25":"tag-technology","26":"tag-u-s-news","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115385917649153246","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}