Cybercriminals no longer need to know their targets personally. Photos, professional profiles and other information published online can be combined by artificial intelligence into detailed personal profiles within minutes, making phishing, impersonation and attacks on companies easier to prepare.
Generative AI has sharply reduced the time required to analyse publicly available information. Details that previously had to be collected manually from multiple sources can now be summarised, connected and used to create convincing messages tailored to a specific person.
Public information becomes attack material
Holiday photographs can reveal locations, family relationships and routines. LinkedIn profiles expose employers, job titles, colleagues and professional interests. Other social platforms may provide information about hobbies, purchases or upcoming events.
Individually, many of these details appear harmless. Combined, however, they can help an attacker build a credible scenario for a phishing email, fraudulent phone call or attempt to impersonate a colleague or executive.
AI raises the quality of social engineering
Modern AI tools can generate messages in the target’s language and writing style, analyse photographs and prepare scripts for voice or video impersonation. The technology does not create the underlying information, but it makes processing and exploiting it substantially faster.
For companies, the development increases the importance of security awareness and verification procedures. Employees with access to payments, sensitive data or administrative systems are particularly attractive targets because information about their professional roles is often publicly available.
