Security Watch: Automated hacker attacks call for tough identity management

With online imposters, phishing and credential theft on the rise, identity management is your first line of defence

Automated attacks beat those written by humans by a significant margin, radically lowering the barriers to entry for criminals looking to run scams at a vast scale. Picture: Getty

If you think hackers are bad, wait till you meet their automated counterparts. We’re entering a new era of digital threats; phishing has evolved, first to spear-phishing (targeted attacks designed to win the victim’s trust by impersonating a contact), and now to AI-powered spear-phishing, where deep learning language models and AI-as-a-service can customised the attack to each victim.

One study showcased at Defcon, Las Vegas, last month demonstrated that automated attacks beat those written by ...