Understanding Identity-Based Attack Trends

The Identity Theft Resource Center recently reported a 312% spike in victim notices, now reaching 1.7 billion for 2024. AI is transforming identity theft from something attackers did manually to full-scale industrialized operations. Look at what happened in Hong Kong: a clerk wired HK$200M to threat actors during a video call where every participant but one was an AI-generated deepfake. Only the victim was real. Here’s what you need to know 👇 1. Traditional authentication won’t stop these attacks. Get MFA on everything, prioritize high-value accounts. 2. Static identity checks aren't enough—switch to continuous validation. Ongoing monitoring of access patterns is essential after users log in. 3. Incident response plans have to address synthetic identity threats. Focus your response on critical assets. 4. Some organizations are using agentic AI to analyze identity settings in real time, catching out-of-place activity that basic rules miss. Passing a compliance audit doesn’t mean you’re protected against these attacks. The old “authenticate once” mindset needs to move to a model where verification is continuous and context-aware. If your organization is seeing similar threats, how are you adapting to push back against AI-driven identity attacks? #Cybersecurity #InfoSec #ThreatIntelligence

A cybersecurity prediction for 2024: Identity based attacks will increase- but not how they normally. We are used to business email compromise as the classic identity attack. Someone phishes a user and captures their credentials. They then log in their email and do something nefarious. You know- the classic forwarding rules, delegated access, etc. It's a powerful foothold that has led to many massive breaches. My prediction is email phishing will continue as a stagnant initial attack vector. It won't go down, but I don't think it will go up in a meaningful way. What will certainly go up is voice based identity attacks. Hackers will be able to mimic people's voices and attack people at scale. Think hacker presses button- AI tries to trick a million people. The fundamentals will stay the same to stop it: Good training, good cyber hygiene, leave privilege. Protect your emails and your endpoints. What will change is a need for: zero standing privilege, better identity verification, and training on new attack vectors.

Today, in almost every conversation - with customers, partners, or even in congressional testimony, it's clear that AI is fundamentally reshaping how attackers operate. This shift presents new challenges for defenders, particularly concerning AI identities, which are rapidly becoming a major hurdle for security teams. The latest Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 Incident Response Report confirms what we're seeing on the front lines –  social engineering is on the rise, accounting for 36% of all attacks in the past year. This surge in identity-based attacks underscores the critical importance of our intent to acquire CyberArk. In the AI era, every identity – human, machine, and especially AI – requires deep access security. A few alarming statistics from the report: - 66% of attacks targeted privileged accounts, leading to significant access and damage. - 45% used impersonation of internal personnel, manipulating workflows and exploiting identity management gaps. - 23% involved voice-based techniques. With deepfakes and AI voice spoofing, these are increasingly difficult to detect. Dive into the full report:  https://lnkd.in/gnANe2sJ