Benzekri Amina

Social engineering and AI are increasingly connected, and understanding their relationship is important for security and awareness.

1. What is Social Engineering?

Social engineering = manipulating people to reveal confidential information or perform actions that benefit an attacker.
It targets human psychology, not technical vulnerabilities.

Examples:

Phishing emails

Fake tech support

Impersonation

Psychological manipulation

2. How AI is Changing Social Engineering

AI has made social engineering more powerful and harder to detect.

– a. More convincing phishing

AI can write:

emails with perfect grammar

personalized messages

messages tailored to your behavior (based on your posts online)

– b. Deepfake voice & video

Attackers can:

imitate a CEO’s voice

create fake videos telling employees to transfer money

impersonate family members

– c. Automated attacks

AI chatbots can:

chat with victims in real time

simulate human conversations

persuade or pressure people

– d. Data analysis

AI can analyze:

your social media

your preferences

your habits
… to create very personalized attacks.

3. AI Also Helps Fight Social Engineering

It’s not only negative—AI can protect users.

– Detect suspicious emails

AI can identify phishing indicators better than humans.

– Monitor unusual behavior

AI sees abnormal login attempts or strange financial transactions.

– Assist users with training

AI tools can simulate attacks to teach people how to spot them.

4. The Future of Social Engineering with AI

Attacks will be more personalized and realistic.

People will rely more on verification tools (voice detection, deepfake detection).

Human awareness and digital literacy become more important.

5. How to Protect Yourself

Always verify unexpected messages or calls.

Don’t trust urgent requests for money or passwords.

Double-check voice notes or videos asking for actions.

Use two-factor authentication.

Stay informed about new AI scams.