Week 8: Threats from the Inside: How Attackers Use AI
Dates: Mar 1-5 · Reading: Handout 7: AI-Powered Attacks
Learning Objectives
- Explain how attackers use machine learning and AI
- Describe AI-powered malware, credential stuffing, and deepfakes
- Understand AI-driven reconnaissance and vulnerability discovery
- Relate attacker AI to defensive strategy
Monday Session
AI-powered malware that learns and adapts. Credential stuffing and password-guessing at scale. Deepfakes and synthetic media as attack vectors. AI-driven reconnaissance: automated scanning and vulnerability discovery.
Wednesday Session
Deep dive into each attacker use case. Case studies: real breaches powered by AI. Why understanding attacker AI is critical for defensive strategy.
Lab
Lab 7: Adversarial Email Generation. Use simple ML techniques to generate synthetic phishing emails in a controlled lab to understand how attackers craft campaigns. Purely educational.
Quiz / This Week
Quiz 7. Attacker use of AI; malware, deepfakes, reconnaissance.