The Spooky Side of AI: Is Your Business Prepared?
Take a walk through almost any neighborhood this Halloween and you'll see plenty of monsters roaming the streets.
Vampires. Ghosts. Zombies. Creatures of all kinds.
Fortunately, most of them are just looking for candy.
The monsters businesses need to worry about are much harder to recognize.
Cybercriminals don't announce themselves as threats. They try to look like people you already know and trust — your employees, customers, vendors, executives, or even your bank.
And AI is making those disguises much more convincing.
Businesses are finding some great ways to use AI to improve productivity, automate repetitive tasks, and help employees work more efficiently. At the same time, cybercriminals are using the same technology to create better phishing emails, convincing impersonations, and increasingly realistic voice and video scams.
The answer isn't to be afraid of AI.
It's to understand how the threats are changing and make sure your business has processes in place that don't depend entirely on someone being able to spot a fake.
Because these days, seeing — or even hearing — isn't always believing.
AI Shapeshifters: Seeing and Hearing Isn't Enough Anymore
There was a time when hearing someone's voice on the phone was a pretty good way to confirm who you were talking to.
That's becoming less reliable.
AI-generated audio can imitate someone's voice, and AI-generated images and video continue to improve.
Imagine an employee receiving a phone call that sounds like the owner of the company:
“I'm heading into a meeting. I need you to wire this payment right away. I'll explain everything later.”
It sounds like the owner.
The caller knows the employee's name.
They know something about the company.
And they're creating urgency.
Would your employee send the money?
That's why sensitive requests shouldn't depend entirely on whether someone recognizes a voice, face, or writing style.
For financial transactions, password resets, account changes, sensitive information, and other high-risk requests, your business should have a verification process.
That could mean calling a known phone number, getting approval from a second person, using established payment procedures, or requiring additional authentication.
The more convincing the impersonation becomes, the more important verification becomes.
AI Mummies: Old Scams in Better Costumes
Phishing certainly isn't new.
What has changed is how convincing it can look.
For years, one of the easiest ways to identify a phishing email was terrible spelling, strange grammar, awkward wording, or formatting that just didn't look right.
AI can clean up many of those warning signs in seconds.
A phishing email can now be professional, grammatically correct, personalized, and written in a tone that sounds completely reasonable.
The scam itself may be old.
It just has a much better costume.
Instead of teaching employees to rely primarily on spelling mistakes and bad grammar, teach them to pay attention to the request.
Is someone asking you to change banking information?
Send money?
Reset a password?
Provide confidential information?
Log in through an unexpected link?
Buy gift cards?
Download an unfamiliar document?
Do something urgently while bypassing the normal process?
Those are the things that should make someone stop and verify.
A perfectly written email can still be a scam.
AI Vampires: Be Careful What You Invite In
There's an old rule in vampire stories: a vampire can't enter your home unless you invite it inside.
There's a useful cybersecurity lesson there.
Employees are experimenting with AI tools every day.
And many of those tools can be genuinely useful.
The problem starts when employees begin putting company information into AI services without understanding what they're using or what happens to that information afterward.
For example, an employee might think:
“I'll paste this financial report into an AI tool and ask it to summarize it.”
Or:
“I'll upload this customer spreadsheet and have AI organize it for me.”
Or:
“I'll give this AI assistant our contract so it can write a response.”
That may save time.
But what information did you just give that service?
Customer information?
Financial data?
Employee information?
Passwords or credentials?
Confidential contracts?
Proprietary business information?
And do you know how that AI provider handles the data?
This is one reason businesses should have some basic guidelines around AI use.
Employees should know which AI tools are approved and, more importantly, what information should never be entered into an unapproved service.
You don't necessarily need to ban AI.
You need rules for using it responsibly.
Don't Rely on Employees to Spot Every Fake
AI is going to make some cyberattacks harder to recognize.
That's why your cybersecurity strategy shouldn't depend on having employees who can identify every fake email, voice call, or video.
Instead, build processes that still work when the fake is convincing.
For example:
Verify unusual financial requests using a known method
Require additional approval for banking or payment changes
Use multi-factor authentication
Give employees a simple way to report suspicious messages
Establish guidelines for using AI with company information
Train employees to question unusual requests rather than just unusual-looking emails
Encourage employees to ask before acting when something doesn't feel right
You don't need employees who can identify every AI-generated scam.
You need employees who know what to do when they're unsure.
Better Processes Beat Better Disguises
AI will continue to improve.
The fake emails will get better.
The voices will sound more realistic.
The videos will become harder to distinguish from the real thing.
Trying to keep employees one step ahead of every new AI trick isn't realistic.
Good processes give your business something much more dependable.
If changing banking information always requires verification, it doesn't matter how convincing the email is.
If unusual financial transactions require a second approval, it doesn't matter how much the caller sounds like the owner.
If employees know not to put sensitive company information into unapproved AI tools, you're reducing another potential source of exposure.
The technology will continue changing.
Good security habits still work.
Is Your Business Ready for the AI Side of Cybersecurity?
AI isn't something businesses should automatically fear.
Used responsibly, it can be an incredibly useful business tool.
But it's also changing the cybersecurity landscape, and businesses need to adjust.
At Chris Gomar IT Consultants, I help businesses take a practical approach to technology and cybersecurity.
As your Business Technology Advisor, I can help you look at how your employees are using AI, how sensitive requests are verified, what cybersecurity protections you already have in place, and where there may be gaps.
The goal isn't to add more technology just because AI is changing things.
It's to make sure your technology, employees, and processes work together to protect your business.
Wondering whether your business is prepared?
Schedule a complimentary 15-minute discovery call. We'll talk about your current environment, how AI is being used in your business, and where it may make sense to strengthen your protections.
And don't worry.
No garlic required.
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