In anticipation of GSX, we sat down with presenters of upcoming sessions in order to get a better understanding of the topics at hand. This week we are featuring, “Unmasking AI-Powered Fraud Tools on the Dark Web: Threats and Countermeasures,” presented by Peter Warmka, CPP, Founder & CEO at Counterintelligence Institute, LLC. Read on for what he had to say and don’t forget to register for GSX 2025!
Q: How did you become interested in your topic?
A: I spent a career in the CIA as a human hacker, focusing on manipulating insiders to breach the security of target organizations. Today, I assist organizations in defending against such threats. AI has significantly enhanced both the quantity and quality of attacks by increasing the “credibility” of the social engineering approach used in the attack.
Q: Tell us about your presentation and why security professionals should have this topic on their radar.
A: I help attendees better understand the dark web and how it has become the central marketplace for a variety of AI tools, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for would-be criminals attempting to steal an organization’s IP or financial resources.
Q: What advice would you give security professionals interested in this topic?
A: Increasing awareness is the very first step in combating this threat. Today, over 95 percent of successful data breaches are initiated by some form of human hacking. The goal of the human hacker is to circumvent the policies, procedures, and technological controls put in place to protect the organization. Security professionals need to better understand how AI technology is leveraged by human hackers to achieve this goal through the identification and manipulation of key insiders in an attack.
Q: How do you see this issue evolving in the next 2-5 years?
A: Organizations will continue to look for AI-enhanced technical solutions in combating these threats while minimizing strategies to promote greater awareness training among their employees. As a result, the ability to defend against such threats will continue to lag behind its creative and rapidly evolving use by threat actors.
Q: Why do you attend GSX?
A: I find that GSX combines great opportunities for networking with industry peers in addition to opportunities to learn about new technological advancements during presentations as well as hands-on demonstrations by exhibitors.