Using AI-enabled spear phishing to improve cybersecurity

AI creates new avenues for cybercriminals to attack. Our research investigates both the vulnerability to AI-enabled spearphishing attacks in a Swiss context and the impact of this exposure on employees’ risktaking behavior. Despite the relative scarcity of open-source data compared with the United States, we find that the risk posed by automated spear phishing attacks remains significant. On the other hand, spear phishing exposure has a significant impact on risk behavior, with an effect up to double that of other interventions. In cybersecurity, this means that spear phishing will become both an important attack vector and a critical component of cyber defenses. Insurance companies will experience the impact primarily in their cyber and crime insurance lines, with a greater effect on crime insurance. They should also update their underwriting questionnaires to incorporate spear phishing exercises.