Humans VS Machines : The malicious use of AI in social engineering attacks

Abstract

Social engineering remains one of the most significant cybersecurity threats, exploiting human psychology to manipulate individuals into disclosing sensitive information or performing actions that compromise security. With the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI), social engineering attacks have become more sophisticated, scalable, and difficult to detect. This thesis explores the intersection of AI and social engineering, analysing how AI enhances the effectiveness of attacks and poses new cybersecurity challenges.

This thesis is written in the form of a literature review. It begins by outlining the re-search methods used, followed by an overview of social engineering and its implica-tions. It then examines the psychological factors that make individuals susceptible to manipulation. The core focus of this thesis is the role of AI in social engineering, detail-ing how AI facilitates realistic content creation, personalized targeting, large-scale au-tomation, multi-channel attack strategies, and evasion techniques. Specific AI-driven social engineering attack types, such as phishing, vishing, smishing, deepfakes, and so-cial media manipulation attacks, are analysed to illustrate the evolving threat landscape.

The discussion chapter reflects on the broader implications of AI-driven social engi-neering, including its impact on digital trust, cybersecurity defences, and mitigation strategies. The thesis concludes by emphasizing the urgent need for advanced counter-measures, AI-driven defence mechanisms, and increased public awareness to combat the growing threat posed by AI-enhanced social engineering.