Staying Safe with AI:

Protecting Identities in the Age of Intelligence

Previously: Identity Security

Previously, we explored how identity security forms the foundation of organizational protection — ensuring the right people access the right resources at the right time.

But as technology evolves, so do the threats. This week, we shift focus to a new frontier of risk and opportunity: artificial intelligence (AI).
AI is revolutionizing productivity and decision-making — but it also introduces new challenges for protecting your identity, data, and organization.

Everyone is Using AI

Are You?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming how small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) operate. Acting as a great equalizer, AI provides access to powerful tools once reserved for large enterprises — improving efficiency, personalizing customer experiences, and driving smarter decisions.

0%
of U.S. workers now use generative AI on the job (MIT/Stanford Study, 2024)
0%
of SMBs are experimenting with or actively using AI, and 34% have fully implemented it (Salesforce SMB Trends Report, 2024)

AI isn’t a futuristic technology anymore — it’s part of daily business life.

But with great power comes great responsibility.

The Benefits of AI for Small Businesses

AI can help your organization grow strategically, efficiently, and securely

  • Boosts efficiency and productivity: AI can automate repetitive administrative tasks — such as data entry, scheduling, payroll, and invoice processing —freeing up employees to focus on strategic, growth-driving work.

  • Levels the playing field: Historically, advanced technology was a luxury for large corporations. Today, affordable AI tools allow SMBs to improve operations and gain a competitive edge with fewer resources.

  • Improves decision-making: AI-driven analytics can process large volumes of data to uncover market trends, customer behaviors, and performance insights that would be difficult to spot manually. This helps business owners make smarter, data-driven decisions.

  • Save Time and Reduce Costs: By automating processes and optimizing resources like inventory and employee schedules, AI helps reduce operational costs.
  • Strengthens security: AI can enhance cybersecurity by monitoring networks for suspicious activity and rapidly responding to threats.

That being said, there are inherent risks for businesses as they venture into the world of AI, and bad actors know it! These risks can be exploited by attackers who use AI themselves to create more sophisticated attacks.

How are Bad Actors Using AI?

AI can be a powerful tool for cybercriminals, enabling more effective and widespread attacks. Bad actors use AI to scale up attacks and create more convincing fraudulent content, lowering the barrier for entry into sophisticated cybercrime. AI tools enable automated, hyper-personalized attacks, making malicious activities more efficient and more complex to detect than ever before.

Key areas where bad actors are misusing AI tools:

Fraud and Misinformation

Deepfakes

Manipulated videos, audio, or images are created to mimic real people, often to spread disinformation, commit fraud, or extort victims. This can include impersonating executives to authorize fraudulent financial transfers or creating fake profiles for job scams.

Targeted Phishing

Bad actors use AI to automate target research and generate compelling, personalized messages. The emails and texts are contextually relevant and contain minimal grammatical errors, making them more effective at deceiving victims.

Fake Online Content

AI is used to create realistic but fraudulent e-commerce storefronts, fake job listings, and phony product reviews to lure victims into scams.

Voice Cloning

With just a few seconds of audio, AI can clone a person’s voice to impersonate them for “vishing” (voice phishing) attacks. This technique is used to target help desks and other departments to gain unauthorized access.

Malware and cyberattacks

Malware Development and Distribution:

Threat actors use generative AI to write malicious code and create novel forms of malware, including ransomware. This includes creating polymorphic malware that can change its code to evade traditional detection systems.

AI-Assisted Reconnaissance

AI automates the process of gathering information on potential targets by scraping public data from websites and social media in moments, enabling more potent and sophisticated attacks.

Evading Defenses

Malicious AI can be used to bypass security measures like CAPTCHA tests. It can also be trained to develop malware that traditional antivirus software, which relies on signature-based detection, cannot recognize.

Strategies to Manage AI Security and Privacy Risks

Secure Your AI Tools and Data

Establish strong governance and policy

Train your employees

Adopt a proactive security posture

Now for the Fun Part! The AI Advantage

You can leverage AI in powerful ways to grow your business, streamline operations, and become even more competitive. Here are a few ways SMBs can use AI, often with low-cost or free tools:

Sales and Marketing

Generate Marketing Content Create social media posts, ad copy, blog outlines, and email content using AI writing assistants.
Produce Professional Visuals Use AI design tools to generate brand-consistent graphics, images, and marketing materials without a designer.
Optimize Email Campaigns Personalize content based on customer behavior and optimize send times for better engagement.
Develop Sales Insights Integrate AI-enabled customer relationship management (CRM) software to analyze customer interactions and identify sales opportunities based on customer behavior.
Enhance SEO and Market Research Utilize digital marketing platforms to get AI-powered insights on market trends, competitor strategies, and keyword optimization to improve search rankings.
Qualify and Prioritize Sales Leads Use AI-driven features in CRM software to score leads based on their likelihood to convert, helping your sales team focus on the best opportunities.
Automate Sales Outreach Let AI-powered assistants draft and send personalized follow-up emails to prospects.
Forecasting Forecast sales, manage pipelines, segment customers, and optimize campaigns.

Customer Support

Provide 24/7 Customer Support Implement AI-powered chatbots on your website to answer frequently asked questions instantly, improving customer satisfaction without needing round-the-clock staff.
Automate Call Routing Use conversational AI to intelligently route incoming phone calls to the correct department, saving time for both customers and employees.
Analyze Customer Sentiment Use AI to monitor customer emails, support tickets, and social media mentions for sentiment, allowing you to proactively address issues before they escalate.
Assist Your Human Agents Equip your customer service team with AI tools that provide real-time transcriptions, call summaries, and suggested answers during calls.
Improve Self-Service Resources Use AI to analyze support data and automatically generate or update knowledge base articles, making it easier for customers to find answers themselves.

Human Resources and Employee Experience

Recruitment Screen resumes and prioritize candidates.
Personalized Training Create and recommend tailored learning programs based on an employee’s skills and career goals.
Performance and Engagement Analyze employee sentiment from surveys and communications to gauge morale and identify issues.
Workforce Planning Predict staffing needs and identify potential talent gaps.
Enhance Onboarding and Training Create scripts for training videos, custom onboarding guides, and educational materials for new hires.

Finance and Accounting

Simplify Bookkeeping Use AI features within accounting software to automatically categorize transactions and analyze spending.
Enforce Expense Policies Deploy an AI-first corporate card and expense solution, which automates expense capture and enforces spending policies in real-time.
Improve Financial Reporting Automate data consolidation from spreadsheets and other sources, making budgeting and forecasting more efficient.
Automate Accounts Payable Implement AI for autonomous invoice processing and bill payments.
Detect Fraud and Anomalies Analyze 100% of transactions and flag high-risk anomalies, helping to detect fraud and errors.

Automation and Efficiency

Task and Workflow Automation Automate routine tasks like data entry, scheduling, and email responses.
Meeting Summarization Transcribe and summarize meetings, extracting action items and key insights.
Document Processing Analyze large documents, extract specific information, and create summaries of reports.
Inventory Management Use AI powered forecasting tools to predict demand and automate the reordering process.
Manage Your Inbox Automate email sorting and triage to prioritize messages, flag urgent emails, and draft responses.
Optimize Your Team’s Calendar Find the best meeting times, block time for your work and sync multiple calendars.

Data Analysis and Decision Making

Data Analysis Analyze large datasets to find patterns that create charts and graphs, and generate detailed breakdowns.
Project Management Assist with project planning, resource allocation, and monitoring progress.

Collaboration and Creativity

Enhanced Collaboration Improve teamwork and communication across different locations.
Brainstorming and Problem-solving Generate ideas, explore scenarios, and practice skills like negotiation.
Code and Development Assist developers in writing, testing, and reviewing code.

Put Your AI Knowledge to the Test!
See how many of the 21 hidden AI buzzwords you can find in our interactive word search.