AI and the future of phishing: what organisations need to know

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the cyber threat landscape, and phishing is evolving into something far more sophisticated than just mass email scams. AI is empowering attackers with the means to launch faster, smarter, and more personalised campaigns at scale.

For organisations, understanding how AI is reshaping phishing tactics is essential to developing effective, modern defence strategies.

How is AI changing the phishing game?

Phishing attacks have traditionally relied on a mix of low-effort email templates, social engineering, and human error. But AI has significantly raised the bar.

1. Hyper-personalised phishing emails

   
   With access to vast amounts of publicly available data from social media, corporate websites, and breached databases, attackers are using machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to craft emails that appear highly tailored. These messages mimic internal communication styles, refer to relevant business activities, and exploit user trust far more effectively than old-school phishing attempts. The tactic of spotting a phishing email via spelling mistakes or poor grammar is no longer as reliable as it used to be.

2. Deepfake phishing attacks

   
   AI-generated audio and video content is becoming a key tool for impersonation. Attackers are now using deepfake voice technology to leave voicemail messages or even engage in live calls impersonating senior executives. Combined with convincing phishing emails, these tactics are being used to authorise fraudulent payments, approve data transfers, or gain access to internal systems. In several instances hackers have been able to trick targets into thinking they were speaking to real people on company teams calls!

3. Spear phishing at scale

   
   Previously, spear phishing was labour intensive and limited in scope. Now, AI enables attackers to scale these tailored campaigns to thousands of targets, each uniquely customised with relevant context, tone, and timing. The ability to automate spear phishing makes it harder for traditional phishing email detection tools to catch malicious messages.

The arms race: AI vs AI

To counter the growing use of AI by attackers, cyber security teams are deploying their own AI-powered defence strategies. Machine learning models are being used to analyse communication patterns, detect anomalies, and flag suspicious content in real time.

But this creates a new challenge: an AI arms race, where attackers and defenders continually evolve their tactics.

Defensive AI must contend with:

• False positives, which reduce productivity by blocking legitimate communications.
• Adversarial techniques, where attackers attempt to confuse or poison AI models.
• Rapid innovation, as AI phishing threats evolve at unprecedented speed.

In this environment, businesses must adopt proactive, AI-driven cyber security approaches that go beyond traditional solutions.

Staying ahead with CTEM and MDR

Given the increasing pace and complexity of phishing trends in 2025 and beyond, organisations need continuous and adaptive protection.

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)
As AI allows attackers to discover weaknesses faster, CTEM gives businesses the ability to continuously assess, prioritise, and remediate threats. Unlike static vulnerability management, CTEM offers a dynamic view of exposures, helping organisations reduce risk before phishing campaigns can exploit them.

Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
AI-powered attacks demand AI-powered defence. MDR services deliver 24/7 protection through real-time monitoring, machine learning-based analytics, and expert-led threat hunting. MDR not only supports phishing defence for businesses but also ensures rapid incident containment and resolution.

CTEM and MDR are crucial parts of a layered security strategy—designed to identify and stop phishing emails, social engineering attempts, and other AI-enabled attacks before they escalate.

How Integrity360 can help

At Integrity360, we understand the evolving nature of AI in cyber security and how phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) and generative AI are raising the stakes.

Our expert-led services are designed to help organisations reduce exposure, enhance detection, and improve response.

• CTEM – Proactively identify and resolve the exposures that matter most, strengthening your security posture with real-time insight.
• MDR – Our 24/7 MDR services combine phishing email detection, AI-driven monitoring, and human expertise to neutralise threats quickly.
• Incident Response & Digital Forensics – We provide rapid containment, investigation, and recovery when an incident occurs.
• Security Awareness & Phishing Simulation – AI phishing threats demand stronger user awareness. We deliver engaging training and realistic phishing tests.
• Cloud & Endpoint Security – AI-powered phishing often targets remote systems. We deliver advanced protection across cloud platforms and endpoint devices.

From exposure management to 24/7 threat response, we help businesses stay resilient and ready for the next evolution of phishing.

Discover how we can help at Integrity360.com.