The Rules of the Game Have Changed
HigherEdRisk Editorial
<p>It's no secret that cybersecurity strategy relies on a familiar assumption: humans are the weakest link. If you train your people to spot suspicious emails, use multi-factor authentication, and have endpoint protection, you have your best chance of avoiding a cyber incident. That framework is now obsolete.</p><p><strong>We've entered the age of AI vs. AI.</strong></p><p>Generative AI can be helpful, but without appropriate controls and tools, it expands the capabilities of bad actors. These actors can now exploit weaknesses at a scale previously impossible. Further, traditional MFA assumes it's possible to reliably authenticate a user. AI-powered attacks change that supposition.</p><p>Bad actors using generative AI no longer need to guess how to exploit vulnerabilities. They persuade. AI can perfect impersonation by cloning voices, leveraging synthetic video, and hyper-personalizing phishing attacks. This is real and not theoretical; we see it every day on social media. It is now harder than ever to train human judgment to defeat this enhanced machine-generated deception.</p><p>According to the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="text-primary underline cursor-pointer" href="https://cpl.thalesgroup.com/ppc/data-threat-report?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&utm_term=thales%20data%20discovery%20and%20classification&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22453747885&gbraid=0AAAAAD_tGUQ6-MRxP3BnECXh_RvGtpELc&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhafEBhCcARIsAEGZEKJP4XVQWN4bEDJdiCAxtzEFlKHL4pdGRxDvGOvagY3cuEcx9XYBv8gaApT4EALw_wcB">Thales 2026 Data Threat Report</a>, AI-fueled attacks are a prominent threat: 59% of global respondents have seen deepfake attacks, and 48% have experienced reputational damage due to AI-generated misinformation. AI generates convincing pretexts in real time and exploits a vulnerability no software patch can fix: trust.</p><p><strong>How does this impact higher education?</strong></p><p>Higher educatio