The Rise of Vishing in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Imagine this: your phone rings. It’s a number you don’t recognize, but the voice on the other end is instantly familiar – it’s your boss, and he sounds stressed. He needs you to authorize an urgent wire transfer to a new vendor. It seems legit, and his voice sounds the same. What do you do?

A new threat has emerged in the ever-evolving landscape of cyber crime: AI vishing. This blend of “voice” and “phishing” leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to manipulate, deceive and defraud individuals through highly convincing voice-based scams. What once required amateur tactics and obvious trickery is now being replaced by intelligent, adaptive and disturbingly realistic voice impersonations.

Let’s explore how AI vishing works, why it’s so dangerous and how to protect yourself and your business.

Read: Proceed with Caution: The Dangers of AI and What to Watch Out For

What Is AI Vishing?

AI vishing is an advanced form of voice phishing that uses AI-generated voices to impersonate trusted individuals. Traditional vishing might involve a scammer pretending to be a bank representative over the phone. AI vishing, however, takes it a step further: it uses deepfake technology to sound exactly like a known person, such as a CEO, colleague or family member.

With a few seconds of voice samples scraped from social media, podcasts or video content, scammers can create synthetic voices that are nearly indistinguishable from real ones. These deepfake voices are then used to make fraudulent phone calls or leave convincing voicemail messages.

How AI Vishing Works

1. Voice cloning: The attacker collects voice samples of the target from public sources or breaches of voice data.
2. Deepfake generation: They then generate a synthetic voice model using AI algorithms.
3. Script engineering: The scammer crafts a believable and urgent script that asks for wire transfers, login credentials or sensitive data access.
4. Execution: The AI-generate voice calls an employee or individual, pressuring them to take immediate action.
5. Exfiltration: If successful, the scam results in financial fraud, data leaks or system breaches.

Why Vishing Is So Dangerous

AI vishing is particularly threatening because it exploits trust; people naturally trust the voices of familiar individuals, so a CEO’s “voice” requesting immediate action is hard to question. Attackers can program AI bots to target hundreds of people simultaneously, giving it a widespread victim pool. Another dangerous aspect of vishing is that it bypasses visual safeguards. Unlike regular phishing scams, there are no suspicious links or grammar errors to detect.

Although everyone is potentially at risk of vishing, it disproportionately targets executives, finance teams, IT staff, elderly individuals and high-profile individuals.

Read: Does AI Help or Hurt Cybersecurity?

How to Defend Against AI Vishing

To mitigate vishing, consider the following steps:

• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA): Don’t rely on voice alone. For any sensitive request, require a secondary confirmation, like a text code-email follow-up or in-person verification.
• Train employees: Run regular training simulations and awareness campaigns to test staff’s awareness. Teach staff to be skeptical of unexpected voice instructions, even if they sound legitimate.
• Use call verification: If a caller asks you to take an action, like transfer money or provide personal information, verify the request through a separate, trusted channel. Call the person back on a known number or contact the organization they claim to be from. Some advanced security tools can also detect deepfake audio or flag unusual call patterns.
• Limit public voice exposure: Be mindful of publishing long-form audio content like interviews or keynote speeches that can be used for training AI models.
• Set internal communication protocols: Create clear procedures for handling financial or sensitive requests.

Stay Safe with Thriveon

AI vishing represents a chilling new frontier in cyber crime. As AI becomes more sophisticated, scammers are harnessing the tools for nefarious reasons. By staying informed, remaining vigilant and implementing robust security measures can help you build a stronger defense. That’s why partnering with a managed service provider (MSP) like Thriveon is another strategic move your company can take.

With our robust cybersecurity measures, we can help you outpace cyber attacks and keep your organization – and its sensitive data – safe. Our Fractional CIO can also help you develop an AI policy so you can protect your company from AI threats and issues.

Schedule a meeting with us now for more information.