Cyber crims quick to exploit AI sophistication

Grammatical errors and other easy signs of fake messaging are gone and "wealthy, trusting" Australia has become a favourite target. AI has taken the rough edges off cyber scams and removed the easy "tells" in fake messages such as typos or grammatical errors, says one digital security specialist. "Now they just have ChatGPT correct the text – they just say 'write this email as an Australian business person," said Niek Dekker of Eftsure on the latest Accountants Daily podcast. "That was done the moment it came out." He said AI had also made some countries that were difficult to hack, such as Japan, more vulnerable. "They were always a bit out of target because not everybody knows the business culture or the language. Since generative AI has come, they see an increase in scams." He said Australia had become a favourite target for hackers because we were wealthy and trusting. "That makes us prime targets for these criminals."