Subtitle: AI is making scams more convincing while creating new questions about how employees handle sensitive business information.
By Dan Roberts on 10/26/26
October brings plenty of reminders about things designed to look like something they are not. Unfortunately, the same idea now applies to some of the cybersecurity threats businesses face.
Artificial intelligence is making it easier to create convincing emails, realistic voice messages, and even video designed to impersonate someone an employee trusts. At the same time, employees are adopting AI tools to help with everyday work, sometimes without considering what happens to the business information they enter into the platforms.
For business leaders, the answer is not to become an expert at identifying everything created by AI. It is to make sure employees have clear processes to follow when something seems unusual and clear expectations for how AI should be used inside the organization.
1. A familiar voice or face may not be enough to verify someone's identity.
There was a time when hearing someone's voice or seeing them on video provided a reasonable level of confidence about who was making a request. AI is making those signals less dependable. The source article points to realistic voice messages, calls, and videos as ways scammers can make a request appear legitimate.
This makes verification procedures increasingly important, especially when money, sensitive information, or account changes are involved. Employees should not have to decide whether a voice sounds real enough or whether a video looks slightly unusual. A clear verification process gives them a dependable next step regardless of how convincing the request appears.
The goal is not to make employees suspicious of every interaction. It is to make sure sensitive requests are verified consistently instead of relying only on what someone sees or hears.
2. A professional looking email can still be a scam.
For years, employees were taught to look for spelling mistakes, poor grammar, unusual formatting, and awkward language as signs of phishing. Those clues can still be useful, but they are becoming less reliable as AI makes it easier to create polished, professional messages.
Instead of focusing only on how an email looks, employees should also consider what the sender is asking them to do. An unexpected change to payment instructions, a request for sensitive information, or an unfamiliar login link deserves additional verification even when the message itself looks completely legitimate.
This reinforces a point from the previous October articles: employees do not need to become cybersecurity experts. They need good habits and a clear process for what to do when something does not feel right.
3. Employees need clear guidelines for using AI.
AI can create risk from inside the organization as well. Employees may begin using AI tools to summarize information, draft documents, analyze data, or make everyday work easier without realizing sensitive business information is being shared with a service the company has not evaluated or approved.
An employee could, for example, paste a quarterly report containing sensitive financial information into an AI tool and ask for a summary. The employee may simply be trying to save time, but the business still needs to understand where its information is going, how it may be stored, and what policies apply to its use.
This is why telling employees not to use AI is rarely enough. Businesses need clear guidelines about which tools are approved, what types of information employees can enter, and when someone should ask before using AI for a business task. Employees are already finding useful ways to work with these tools, so leadership needs to provide appropriate boundaries.
Better Processes Matter More Than Becoming Better At Spotting AI
AI will continue making fraudulent messages and impersonation attempts more convincing. Trying to teach employees every visual, audio, or writing clue associated with AI generated content can become a moving target as the technology improves.
A more dependable approach is to build processes that do not rely entirely on an employee recognizing a fake. Sensitive financial requests can require verification. Employees can have a clear process for reporting suspicious activity. AI use can follow established guidelines for protecting company and customer information.
Good cybersecurity does not require your employees to outsmart every new technology. It requires clear expectations and safeguards that help people make good decisions even when something looks convincing.
AI Policies Should Support The Way Your Business Works
AI is becoming part of everyday business, which means organizations need to think about both its opportunities and its risks. The goal should not be to create rules simply because AI is new. It should be to give employees enough clarity to use technology productively without creating unnecessary risk for the business.
At RTS, we help businesses throughout the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor take a practical approach to new technology and cybersecurity. This includes understanding how employees are using AI, establishing appropriate safeguards, and making sure people know what to do when a sensitive or unusual request comes their way.
If you're not sure how AI is already being used inside your business or how your employees would verify a convincing AI powered request, let's have a conversation.
Call 319-364-3004 or click here to schedule a discovery call.
