Social Engineering and AI-Phishing Surge

AI-powered email threats show 54% click-through rate, $3B BEC losses. ClickFix attacks up 500%. AI phishing at $0.04/email. Cisco Talos and CrowdStrike report real prompt logs from cybercriminals using AI. Defensive strategies include knowledge governance and AI assistant security. Recent breaches at Levi Strauss (phone-based social engineering, part of a wider wave hitting 200+ companies) and Tata Electronics (630GB Apple data exfiltrated via quiet data extortion) reinforce the human vulnerability vector.