THE EVOLUTION OF FRAUDULENT CONTENT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND AI

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the transformation of fraudulent content under the influence of the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence and new challenges for modern cybersecurity. It is shown that publicly available and specialized AI tools have radically changed the cybercrime landscape. Attackers are able to create realistic synthetic content at virtually no cost with minimal technical skills. Study compares traditional social engineering methods, when phishing messages were created manually and often contained language errors, with modern AI approaches that provide scaling of attacks without proportional increase in costs, deep personalization for a specific victim, real-time adaptability and full automation of all stages of a fraudulent campaign from analysis of stolen data to content generation. Аdvantages of AI for attackers are highlighted: low cost, high realism, involvement of low-skilled performers, as well as limitations. It is stated that traditional methods of detecting fake content have lost their effectiveness, and deepfake technologies pose a threat not only to individual security, but also to political stability and trust in the media. A shift in the paradigm of cyber defense is proposed: from reactive search for known indicators to proactive analysis of the context, behavioral anomalies, verification of the source of identity and the use of specialized synthetic content detection systems. AI is both a powerful catalyst for the growth of cybercrime and a key tool for counteraction. Effective counteraction is possible only with an integrated interdisciplinary approach that combines technical innovations, increasing the digital literacy of the population, strengthening legislative regulation and international coordination.