The infiltration of business payment processes through AI is escalating. To better understand the extent and nuances of these emerging security threats, Trustmi recently conducted a comprehensive survey across various industries and organizational sizes. While some may believe that AI use among cyber attackers is still nascent, our findings paint a different picture.

Survey Insights

The results are a wake-up call, revealing a significant surge in AI deepfake and impersonation attacks.  

From 2022 to Q1 2023, incidents in the US rose from 0.2% to 2.6%. Our survey of 516 participants from diverse sectors such as manufacturing, government, financial services, and healthcare found that 22% reported facing sophisticated AI attacks in the last 12 months. Specifically, AI deepfake cyberattacks (10%) and executive impersonations (12%) - all aimed at compromising business payment processes.

AI's potential to wreak havoc hit prime time earlier this year when a multinational Hong Kong-based company fell victim to a complex phishing scam. In this incident, bad actors leveraged publicly available YouTube videos to create convincing deepfakes of the company’s CFO and the target employee's coworkers. When the deepfake dust settled, the company lost a staggering $25 million.

In response to our survey conducted in May, nine respondents reported losing more than $25 million to payment fraud in just the past 12 months. Nearly 6% of participants said they lost up to $1 million due to payment fraud.  

‍

Strategies for Mitigation

Unfortunately, AI-powered attacks will become more common in the coming years as criminals realize their effectiveness. To combat these types of sophisticated threats, organizations need a comprehensive, proactive, automated approach to secure business payments. Consider these strategies to mitigate your risk:

‍

• Supply Chain Security: The supply chain is a prime target for attackers. Our survey showed that 11% of participants experienced a supply chain attack in the past 12 months. To secure the vendor lifecycle, vendor onboarding and supply chain management need to be automated. This includes full bank account validation that authenticates vendors' identities and validates the legitimacy of their bank accounts. This is in addition to current bank validation processes that alone fall short in proactively detecting fraudulent activity in light of increasingly sophisticated methods of attack.

‍

• Reducing Human Error: Attacks are not the only threat to payment processes. Due to the surge in supply chain partners and the volume of invoices that need to be processed each month, finance professionals are overwhelmed. The result?  Significant human errors in the payment workflow. Our survey revealed human error is currently the greatest threat to payment processes, with 50% reporting fraud as a result. Automation can mitigate this by providing end-to-end visibility of the payment approval workflow and flagging unusual activities for further investigation.

‍

• Adopting Automation: Despite the risks, our survey revealed that 27% of respondents still rely on manual processes, which correlates with the high degree of human errors organizations are experiencing. Automating processes significantly reduces human errors and drives greater efficiencies throughout business payment processes. Automation can also help ensure and maintain compliance. By identifying legitimate patterns in the payment process and highlighting anomalies, organizations can validate their compliance requirements, enforce strict controls on new processes, and prevent violations in real time.  

‍

Combat AI with AI

The rise of AI in cyberattacks poses a severe threat across all industries. Trustmi’s survey underscores the growing prevalence of AI-driven attacks, including deepfakes and impersonations, which have already led to considerable financial losses. With supply chain attacks and human errors increasing, it’s imperative for companies to take proactive measures to safeguard their financial workflows.

Businesses must leverage advanced payment security solutions like Trustmi to stay ahead of cybercriminals. Trustmi’s automated, AI-powered solution helps protect financial integrity, ensures regulatory compliance, and maintains stakeholder trust in an increasingly complex cyber landscape. To learn more about how Trustmi can help your organization, book a demo today.

‍