Generative artificial intelligence has triggered the rise of phishing in the travel industry. This was stated by Marnie Wilking, Director of information Security at Booking, writes the International Business Times.
She urged travelers to be more careful when booking hotels — scammers can spread malware through phishing emails.
"Over the past year and a half, the number of attacks, in particular phishing attacks, has increased by 500-900% in all industries around the world," Wilking said.
The attackers became active shortly after the launch of ChatGPT. They found out that AI is good at writing emails with high-quality grammar in different languages.
Customers of travel websites are attractive to scammers due to the fact that they are often asked to provide credit card information, family, or upload an identity card.
In one case, the victim was offered to rent a non-existent property in the Swiss Alps for $200 per night, although other similar properties cost $1,000.
"Don't click on anything that looks suspicious, even if you think it might be real. If there is even the slightest doubt, call the hotel, the owners and the support service," Wilking said.
She added that Booking and other large companies use artificial intelligence to fight fraudsters. It helps to prevent the spread of fakes.
The advent of AI has led to an increase in phishing
Security company SlashNext noted that the number of phishing email attacks has increased by 856% over the past year, and by 4,151% since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022.
An increase in the number of phishing emails broken down by time periods. Data: SlashNext."A scammer can create an AI prompt to write an email very quickly and in any language with almost zero cost. You will see that they are written not only in English — I can write in several languages and address a lot of people in different parts of the world in just a few seconds," said Patrick Harr, CEO of SlashNext, in an interview with Decrypt.
Other methods of attacks
Earlier, the SlashNext team investigated the services available to cybercriminals and found out that they can send hundreds of thousands of phishing SMS messages at a price of $0.004 per each.
According to Harr, "smishing" is becoming an increasingly popular and dangerous way to attack mobile phones.
"Obviously, we switched to mobile communication a long time ago, and people are used to using text messages, and bad actors always go where it's convenient for you and try to interfere. We have seen changes in "smishing" in that now it's not just "click here because your gift package is already on the doorstep," he noted.
Also, due to the popularization of the use of QR codes during the COVID-19 pandemic, scammers use this technology, trying to force a potential victim to pay for something, disclose confidential information and password.
Juice jacking is another dangerous attack vector with an emphasis on travelers. Back in April 2023, the US Federal Communications Commission drew attention to the fact that charging a phone on free stations with a USB port is dangerous.
Hackers can download malware into such devices to further gain access to gadgets in order to steal personal data or passwords.
https://forklog.com/exclusive/ai/fejki-dipfejki-i-chat-boty-kak-raspoznat-ii-manipulyatsii-v-interneteIn October, SlashNext found out that since the launch of the chatbot ChatGPT, the number of phishing emails has jumped by 1265%.
Recall that SlowMist named the reasons for the loss of funds by crypto users — phishing is one of the main ones.