CNN
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Those using artificial intelligence by impersonating Secretary of State Marco Rubio have contacted at least five people, including three foreign ministers, the US governor and members of Congress.
Cable advises diplomats around the world that “we might want to warn external partners that cyber threat actors are spoofing state officials and accounts.” The impersonation of the US top diplomats is one of “two clear campaigns” tracked by the State Department, “threat actors are impersonating department officials via email and commercial messaging apps to target individual personal accounts,” Cable advised last Thursday.
According to Cable, the unknown actor pretending to be Rubio created an account with the messaging platform signal using the display name “marco.rubio@state.gov” as part of his “effort to impersonate the Secretary of State of Rubio.”
“The actor left a voicemail with signals from at least two targeted individuals, and in one instance, he sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate the signal,” said Cable, who was first reported in the Washington Post.
“The actors aimed to manipulate targeted individuals using AI-generated text and voice messages with the goal of having access to information and accounts,” he said.
According to Cable, the effort is similar to past activities, which are similar to past activities. The activity was under investigation into the FBI. CNN reported in May that a law enforcement investigation into efforts to impersonate President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wills was ongoing.
External partners can report Rubio's impersonation to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, Cable said. Internally, State Department officials were encouraged to report attempts to impersonate diplomatic security.
A State Department spokesman said the agency was “aware of the incident and is currently investigating the issue.”
“The department will take its responsibility to protect information seriously and will continue to take steps to improve the department's cybersecurity stance to prevent future incidents,” the spokesperson said Tuesday. “For security reasons and with ongoing investigations, we are not in a position to provide details at this time.”
CNN contacted the FBI for comment.
According to Cable, the second campaign begins in April and includes “Russian-related cyber actors.” “Russian-related cyber actors” “run a spear phishing campaign targeting individuals' Gmail accounts related to think tank scholars, Eastern Europe-based activists, dissidents, journalists and former officials.”
The cyber actor “shamed as an official from a fictional department, invites target users to a meeting and tries to persuade them to link third-party applications to their Gmail accounts” and “gives actors permanent access to their users' Gmail content.”
The campaign was extremely detailed, and the actor “exemplified extensive knowledge of departmental naming conventions and internal documents,” Cable said.
