- FBI published a new message warning of continuous attack
- In the attacks mimic the sheds high -ranking US officials at both federal and state level
- In many cases, the striker sends cloned voting messages
Cyber criminals mimic high -ranking US officials in very sophisticated Smishing and Visinging attacks that exploit advanced technology such as Deepfake and generative artificial intelligence (Genai).
This is according to the FBI, who warned US citizens of an ongoing phishing campaign, in a new public service message published May 15.
The message states that threat actors create credible audio and text messages, in many cases mimicing current and former senior US federal and state government officials or their contacts, FBI said. “If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior US official, do not assume it is authentic,” the warning reads.
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Smishing is an abbreviation to SMS phishing, while Viseing is an abbreviation for voice phishing. Both are a variant of the traditional phishing attack, where threat actors throw a bait and “phish” for sensitive data. Victims often fool into sharing passwords, credit card information or other valuable information when Tricksters promise them huge discounts on popular goods or threaten them to close their social accounts.
In almost all cases, phishing messages utilize people’s feelings and force the victims to act quickly and without any other thought.
The FBI did not discuss the content of the messages sent out, but it said attackers are trying to move people to a secondary messaging platform where distribution of malware would be easier. It also made a few recommendations on how to be safe, including verifying people’s identity and listening to the voting messages carefully for discrepancies in tone and word choice.
Phishing has been around since the dawn of the Internet, basically, but with the spread of generative artificial intelligence and deepfaks, the problem has gotten even worse. One of the most abused individuals is Elon Musk, whose face is constantly being plastered on ads for fake crypto exchanges and gifts.
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