Hackers using AI agents more often for account takeover – Gartner

AI agents are becoming increasingly popular with hackers for exploiting online accounts. By 2027, they will reduce the time to take over an account by 50%.

That’s the grim and harsh reality American research and advisory firm Gartner depicts in its latest report, Predicts 2025: Navigating Imminent AI Turbulence for Cybersecurity.

AI agents are turning into helpful tools for attackers to crack online accounts. Because of this, vendors will have to introduce monitoring tools to analyze interactions involving AI agents. This also means that cybersecurity companies should expedite the move toward passwordless and phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (MFA).

“Account takeover remains a persistent attack vector because weak authentication credentials, such as passwords, are gathered by a variety of means, including data breaches, phishing, social engineering, and malware. Attackers then leverage bots to automate a barrage of login attempts across a variety of services in the hope that the credentials have been reused on multiple platforms,” Jeremy D’Hoinne, Vice President Analyst at Gartner, explains.

Technology-enabled social engineering will also pose a significant threat to corporate cybersecurity in the near future, including deepfake audio and video. By 2028, 40% of all social engineering attacks will target both high-level executives and the broader workforce, Gartner predicts.

Gartner points out that although only a few cases have been reported thus far, those that have occurred resulted in significant financial damage to affected parties. These incidents should therefore be considered as a wake-up call and a sign that companies should increase their efforts to secure their digital environment.

“Organizations will have to stay abreast of the market and adapt procedures and workflows in an attempt to better resist attacks leveraging counterfeit reality techniques. Educating employees about the evolving threat landscape by using training specific to social engineering with deepfakes is a key step,” Manuel Acosta, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, states.