Australia's largest financial institution, the Commonwealth Bank (CBA), has issued an alarming notice about being targeted by cybercriminals who employ sophisticated tactics including social media advertisements laced with malware and deepfake technology, reports the Australian.
Amidst a broader shift from conventional phishing methods, CBA has noted a rising trend in hackers employing more innovative methods.
Andrew Pade, CBA Cyber Defence general manager, revealed that threat actors were diverting from traditional email scams to target the bank's customer base through social media platforms.
“We’re seeing a trend in which traditional phishing attacks are sort of shifting because people are becoming more aware," said Pade.
Deepfake AI videos
Not just limited to redirecting the bank's genuine products, cybercriminals are going a step further by using generative artificial intelligence to create deepfake videos.
These videos feature prominent bankers from CBA and falsely promote various products and services.
“We also see the growing trend of gen AI (generative artificial intelligence) video, where threat actors are creating fake CBA videos with prominent CBA employees who are known,” added Pade.
Concerns over vetting social media
CBA has expressed concern over the vetting processes of social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook (NASDAQ:META).
The bank urges consumers to exercise caution, likening social media ads to suspicious emails.
“People when they’re on these social media platforms, they kind of lower their guard, because they think that the ads have been vetted and trusted by the social media platform,” Pade explained.
To combat these novel types of attacks, CBA is actively hunting malicious ads across platforms and utilises artificial intelligence to scan over 240 billion online activities for cyber threats.
However, the bank admits that social media platforms present a unique challenge due to official takedown procedures that can cause delays in removing malicious content.