Charity Digital - Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security, August 2023

Newscaster Charity Digital looks at how cyber criminals are taking advantage of artificial intelligence, and what charities can do to keep themselves safe.

Charities work to make a difference. They might raise money for good causes like the homeless, the vulnerable, the environment, even endangered animals.

But to criminals, charities are just another source of money to steal from, and in the developing landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), they are using this technology to their advantage.

Following MVA’s previous report, cyber criminals are now starting to use AI to carry out a variety of pin-pointed attacks, such as data poisoning or using deepfakes.

Both types of attack essentially alter data or information content and make it seem legitimate, when in fact it is far from the truth and can have a devastating effect on a charity and those who depend on them.

At the same time, the use of AI is advancing the cyber security industry, with organizations starting to rely on AI to work with more traditional tools like antivirus protection, data-loss prevention, and fraud detection.

By the very nature of given AI systems, which can analyze enormous sets of data and find patterns, this technology is seen to be best suited to such security tasks.

There are also other AI systems which could purposefully probe and test the defenses of software and networks so that organisations can identify their weaknesses before hackers can exploit them.

As charity operations start to be carried out digitally, cybersecurity is important now more than ever, so what can charities do to make sure they are safe?

Newscaster Charity Digital has released a feature which explores how cyber criminals are taking advantage of artificial intelligence, and what charities can do to keep themselves safe.

From explaining AI-powered security software and AI-powered criminal activity, to following best practices in areas like the use of passwords and data privacy, they suggest some things a charity can do to protect itself from the cyber security threats posed by AI systems.

To read the feature, visit the Charity Digital website.