A new report from SoSafe highlights the growing tension between AI adoption and its associated security risks, based on insights from 500 global security professionals and 100 SoSafe customers across 10 countries.
The findings reveal a troubling landscape—87% of organizations encountered AI-driven cyberattacks in 2024, and 91% expect these threats to increase significantly over the next three years. Yet, only 26% of respondents express high confidence in their ability to detect such attacks, exposing a critical gap in cybersecurity preparedness. AI-powered multichannel attacks are also on the rise, with 95% of participants observing a noticeable increase in cybercriminals exploiting email, text, social media, and other communication platforms.
One alarming example cited in the report involves WWP’s CEO, where attackers used WhatsApp to establish trust, Microsoft Teams for deeper interaction, and an AI-generated deepfake voice call to extract sensitive information and funds. This illustrates how AI is inadvertently expanding organizations’ attack surfaces, leading to threats such as data poisoning and AI hallucinations. Despite these dangers, 55% of surveyed professionals admit they have yet to fully implement controls to mitigate risks from internal AI solutions. Key concerns include obfuscation techniques—AI-generated methods used to disguise attack origins—highlighted by 51% of respondents, while 45% worry about the emergence of entirely new attack strategies, and 38% fear the scale and speed of AI-driven threats.
SoSafe’s Chief Security Officer, Andrew Rose, warns that AI is dramatically increasing the sophistication of cyberattacks, turning traditional email phishing into more complex, multi-platform scams that integrate voice, video, and text. He stresses that organizations must enhance their security strategies to account for both technological and human vulnerabilities. CEO Niklas Hellemann adds that while AI is a formidable tool in cybersecurity, it is only as effective as the people using it. He emphasizes the need for cybersecurity awareness, urging businesses to combine human expertise with AI-driven security measures to build resilience against the evolving threat landscape.
